Slight rise in May inflation as food items turn pricey

The point-to-point inflation in Bangladesh in May increased slightly by 0.02 per cent to 7.78 per cent as consumer price index (CPI) of some food items rose, official data showed Thursday.
The inflation in the urban areas, however, fell a little with the upward trend in the rural areas, the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) data showed Thursday.
The national statistical bureau said the urban inflation was reduced by 0.04 percentage points to 7.92 per cent in May this year while the rural inflation increased by 0.08 percentage points to 7.27 per cent in the same period.
A senior BBS official said inflation in the urban areas fell slightly as the CPI of "food, beverage and tobacco products" decreased in May this year compared to that of the previous month of April.
The BBS started calculation of the CPI and inflation considering 2005-06 fiscal as the base-year since July this fiscal. Earlier, it calculated the CPI and inflation with 1995-96 fiscal as the base-year.
Considering 2005-06 as the base-year, the national statistical bureau said, the point-to-point inflation was contained by 0.02 percentage points in May to 7.48 per cent from 7.46 per cent in the previous month April of the current financial year (FY) 2013-14.
The non-food inflation, however, had fallen by 0.07 percentage points to 5.16 per cent last month compared to 5.23 per cent in April.
According to BBS statistics, the food inflation in the rural areas rose to 8.72 per cent in May from 8.52 per cent in April this fiscal. The non-food inflation also increased to 4.71 per cent last month from 4.81 per cent in the previous month.
In the urban areas, the prices of food items dropped slightly to 9.98 per cent in May this FY2014 from 9.99 per cent in April, and the non-food items' prices dropped to 5.79 per cent from 5.83 per cent in April this year.
The government has set a target of keeping the average inflation within 7.0 per cent in the current FY2014.