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Inflation will increase in the August-September period owing to the hike in the cost of living and the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, but it may decline in October, said Planning Minister MA Mannan yesterday.
“I earlier said that inflation will increase in August. Now is September. The inflation will also continue in September…But the inflationary pressure may decrease in October,” he said.
The minister made the comment at a views-exchange programme on the country’s economic condition organised by the Development Journalist Forum of Bangladesh at National Economic Council in Dhaka.
The Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics has prepared its monthly report for August on inflation which will be sent to the prime minister via the planning ministry, he said.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is now in India on an official tour. The report will be made public after her return and then the exact situation of inflation in the country will be known, he added.
Mannan said the country’s economy had come under pressure in the post-Covid period due to global circumstances.
But he hopes that progress would be gradually made and the country would start bouncing back to normalcy in October.
On Bangladesh requesting International Monetary Fund (IMF) last month to provide a loan to prop up its strained foreign currency reserves, the minister said, “IMF is our organisation.”
“We’re a member of it. As a member state, it gives us technical assistance, loans and sometimes advice. When a member country falls into a ditch, it gives them loan as bailout,” he said.
“But we didn’t fall into any ditch and we’re not taking any bailout from it. We took loans from the IMF in the past. We’re taking loans this time. Maybe we are in a bit of a problem,” he added.
As a part of austerity measures, the government divided ongoing projects into three categories focusing implementation priority. “We’re in cost cutting measures and we have to do or tune it,” said Mannan.
“We will review it in September. Then if we see any problem, we will resolve it,” he added.
(TDS)
