Official remedies work little as overall inflation again moved up to 11.38 per cent in November as its rate on account of food roared to 13.80 per cent by official count.
This time, urban people have been hit hard by food-inflationary pressure as it surged by a significant rate of 2.10-percentage points to 14.63 per cent in the past month, Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) shows in its data unveiled Thursday.
The inflation on a point-to-point basis got 0.51-percentage-point higher than 10.87 per cent in the previous month of October, registering a record high in last four months.
Four months ago in July, the inflation was recorded at 11.66 per cent which was also the highest in recent past.
Meanwhile, the inflation on a point-to-point basis in the same period in October 2023 was recorded at 9.93 per cent.
Government efforts, including tax cuts on the import of some daily necessaries and continuous contractionary monitory policy, are not apparently working in the desired control of price rises.
Economists say the country's overall import and supply system are yet to normalize, resulting in inflation stoking up indomitably.
The higher inflation has been eroding the real income of people as their month-on-month wage growth is much lower than the inflation rates.
The point-to-point inflation climbed to 11.38 per cent in November, up from 10.87 per cent in October, hitting hard people in the limited-income bracket.
"After a cooling trend over the last three months, the food inflation again swelled to 13.80 per cent in November that left higher inflationary pressure," says a BBS official.
The non-food inflation was also recorded slightly higher at 9.39 per cent in November from 9.34 per cent in October.
Despite a falling trend in inflation in August-September period from a record-high 11.66 per cent in the previous month of July, the CPI pressure again took an upturn in October.
Meanwhile, inflation is still biting the rural people much as the consumer price index (CPI) has been maintaining a higher trend there than in towns.
The point-to-point inflation in rural areas was recorded 11.53 per cent in last month November, 0.27- percentage-point higher than in the previous month.
The food inflation in villages was recorded at 13.41 per cent in November against 12.75 per cent in the previous month.
However, the non-food inflation in rural areas declined to 9.72 per cent last month from 9.76 per cent in October.
In the urban areas, the rate of inflation last month was recorded 11.37 per cent, 0.93-percentage-point higher than previous month's.
The food inflation in the urban Bangladesh surged to 14.63 per cent in November from 12.53 per cent in October.
The non-food inflation also increased to 9.31 per cent in the month from 9.06 per cent in October in the towns, the BBS data showed.
Meanwhile, the 12-month average inflation rate between December 2023 and November 2024 was recorded 10.22 per cent.
The state statistical bureau has also unveiled the Wage Rate Index (WRI) where it shows that wages in Bangladesh increased at a rate of 8.10 per cent in November from 8.07 per cent in October.
Economist Dr Masrur Reaz says although the government has tightened the country's monitory policy and cut duties on some essential products for taming the inflationary pressure, it is not working properly in the absence of normal supply system.
"The LC opening is relaxed recently. But the import of raw materials, intermediate goods and other essentials has still not been normalized. So, the inflationary pressure is still high," he told the FE
Besides, there are lot of protests in the capital city and other parts of the country which also affected the internal supply-chain management, the economist points out.
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