Bangladesh: Inflation in June hit eight-year high at 7.56 pc

Bangladesh's inflation rate in June soared to 7.56 per cent, marking the highest in eight years, according to a report by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) published on Tuesday.

Earlier in May, it was recorded at 7.42 per cent. It jumped another 0.14 per cent points in June, said the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics report, the Dhaka Tribune reported.

According to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) released by the BBS, food inflation in the country rose to 8.37 per cent in June, compared to 7.42 per cent in the previous month.

The average inflation rate stood at 6.15 per cent at the end of FY22, 0.85 per cent more than the target.

Food inflation in the country rose to 8.37 per cent in June, compared to 8.30 per cent in the previous month. Non-food items inflation, however, increased to 6.33 per cent in June from 6.08 percent in May, the data showed.

The Bangladeshi government last month announced the record nearly 7 trillion takas (about 76.18 billion US dollars) national budget for the 2022-23 fiscal year (July 2022-June 2023) and an average annual inflation rate of 5.6 percent for the fiscal year, the Dhaka Tribune reported.

This eight year-high poses a matter of grave concern as many are struggling to pay for daily essentials such as food, rent and utilities. Meanwhile, the value of Taka has declined against the Dollar as well.

According to the BBS data analysis, the price increase is hurting rural households more compared to urban consumers. Economists and other experts expressed concerns over the issue.

Experts said that as the price of essentials shows no sign of coming down, people are cutting down on their demand for non-essential products, which is likely to have serious consequences for growth if it continues for two to three more months, the Dhaka Tribune reported.

The demand for both food and non-food items in the market are increasing after the Covid-19 economic shock. But in the last eight years, food inflation had never been so high in any other month. Economists feared that if inflation went up at this speed, non-food businesses may collapse soon.

(ANI)