BB holds spl discussion on inflation Sunday
Saturday, 18 August 2007
FE Report
The Bangladesh Bank (BB) has convened a special discussion meeting on inflation tomorrow (Sunday) as a part of its move to conduct more rigorous analysis on the current inflationary trend, according to BB officials.
They say economists, researchers, finance officials, donors, chamber leaders, politicians and representatives of the civil society have been invited to attend the meeting so that they can articulate their views on inflation and put forward recommendations needed to fight it.
The central bank's initiative came at a time when inflationary pressure continues to grow, while a sharp debate is raging over causes of inflation.
The BB officials said the central bank-sponsored meeting will try to thrash out an optimal solution to fend off inflation and minimise differences of opinions about causes blamed for soaring food inflation.
The officials added that the BB had prepared a background paper for the meeting, detailing measures needed to combat inflation more effectively.
Resident economic adviser of the central bank Moinul Hasan will present the paper at the meeting and share recommendations with the participants.
Finance and planning minister Mirza Azizul Islam will attend Sunday's discussion meeting as the chief guest to be chaired by M Syduzzaman, a former finance minister.
Quazi Mesbahuddin Ahmed, a former member of general economics division of the Planning Commission, and Debapriya Bhattachariya, executive director at Centre for Policy Dialogue, will be panelists.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation shot up to 9.02 per cent on point-to-point basis in June last from 8.05 per cent in May 2007.
By contrast, inflation rate climbed up to 7.20 per cent from 7.06 per cent in May last on an annual average basis, says the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS).
Food inflation swelled from 6.7 per cent to 8.4 per cent, and non-food inflation increased from 5.0 per cent to 7.8 per cent.
The Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), a local research firm, recently made an analysis on inflation, saying it is more of a cost-push issue than demand-driven, a conclusion disputed by the Asian Development Bank.
The ADB, in its June economic update, said a strong domestic demand, aided by higher incomes and continued high monetary and credit growth, has contributed to rising inflation.
At the same time, the bank took the issue of rocketing food and commodity prices in the international market contributing to the building up of inflationary pressure in the economy.
"As domestic prices are increasingly linked to international prices due to globalisation, the increase in international food and commodity prices also aided inflation," the ADB update maintained.
Inflationary pressures steadily mounted from the beginning of this decade from 1.9 per cent in fiscal year (FY) 2001 to 2.8 per cent in FY 2002, 4.4 per cent in FY 2003, 5.8 per cent in FY 2004, 6.5 per cent in FY 2005, and 7.2 per cent in FY 2006.
The Bangladesh Bank (BB) has convened a special discussion meeting on inflation tomorrow (Sunday) as a part of its move to conduct more rigorous analysis on the current inflationary trend, according to BB officials.
They say economists, researchers, finance officials, donors, chamber leaders, politicians and representatives of the civil society have been invited to attend the meeting so that they can articulate their views on inflation and put forward recommendations needed to fight it.
The central bank's initiative came at a time when inflationary pressure continues to grow, while a sharp debate is raging over causes of inflation.
The BB officials said the central bank-sponsored meeting will try to thrash out an optimal solution to fend off inflation and minimise differences of opinions about causes blamed for soaring food inflation.
The officials added that the BB had prepared a background paper for the meeting, detailing measures needed to combat inflation more effectively.
Resident economic adviser of the central bank Moinul Hasan will present the paper at the meeting and share recommendations with the participants.
Finance and planning minister Mirza Azizul Islam will attend Sunday's discussion meeting as the chief guest to be chaired by M Syduzzaman, a former finance minister.
Quazi Mesbahuddin Ahmed, a former member of general economics division of the Planning Commission, and Debapriya Bhattachariya, executive director at Centre for Policy Dialogue, will be panelists.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation shot up to 9.02 per cent on point-to-point basis in June last from 8.05 per cent in May 2007.
By contrast, inflation rate climbed up to 7.20 per cent from 7.06 per cent in May last on an annual average basis, says the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS).
Food inflation swelled from 6.7 per cent to 8.4 per cent, and non-food inflation increased from 5.0 per cent to 7.8 per cent.
The Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), a local research firm, recently made an analysis on inflation, saying it is more of a cost-push issue than demand-driven, a conclusion disputed by the Asian Development Bank.
The ADB, in its June economic update, said a strong domestic demand, aided by higher incomes and continued high monetary and credit growth, has contributed to rising inflation.
At the same time, the bank took the issue of rocketing food and commodity prices in the international market contributing to the building up of inflationary pressure in the economy.
"As domestic prices are increasingly linked to international prices due to globalisation, the increase in international food and commodity prices also aided inflation," the ADB update maintained.
Inflationary pressures steadily mounted from the beginning of this decade from 1.9 per cent in fiscal year (FY) 2001 to 2.8 per cent in FY 2002, 4.4 per cent in FY 2003, 5.8 per cent in FY 2004, 6.5 per cent in FY 2005, and 7.2 per cent in FY 2006.