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According to the data, non-food inflation rocketed to 6.48% last month from 6.19% a month ago
The rising prices of various commodities in the country, as well as in the international market, have begun to have an impact, especially on non-food products.
The increase in the general inflation was driven by non-food inflation, which surged to a 62-month (5 years 2 month) high in October.
According to the data, non-food inflation rocketed to 6.48% last month from 6.19% a month ago.
This has been the highest since August 2016, when it stood at 7%, Bangladesh Bank data showed.
Moreover, a measure of overall inflation jumped to a 12-month high in October.
The Consumer Prices Index rose 11 basis points to 5.7% from September’s 5.59% and was up for the third consecutive month.
This is the official information published by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS).
In Bangladesh, food inflation is at a higher level for the elevated commodity prices in the international markets. It was up one basis point at 5.22% in October.
Inflation in rural areas was up four basis points at 5.81% last month, while urban inflation soared by 25 basis points to 5.50%.
The BCS data also informed that this is because rice price has not gone down despite higher imports in recent months and robust domestic production.
Similarly, the prices of key essentials such as cooking oil and sugar are on the rise, while vegetable prices have not cooled despite the arrival of winter crops.
Professor Mustafizur Rahman, a distinguished fellow of the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) said earlier: “It seems that we are suffering due to the value of the dollar in the national market and different product price hikes in the international market last month. This will increase our import costs. Still, food products do not have to be imported much. So, the effect of international price hikes mostly affects non-food products.”
(DT)
