Food inflation in Bangladesh rose to a five-month high in April as the measures of the government and the central bank aimed at reining in elevated consumer prices are yet to take hold, official figures showed yesterday.
This means the struggles for the low-income groups and the poor have continued because of the erosion of purchasing power in the past two years.
According to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), food inflation jumped 35 basis points to 10.22 percent last month from 9.87 percent in March. This was the first time in five months that food inflation hit double digits.
However, the Consumer Price Index (CPI), a measure of the average change over time in the prices paid by consumers for a market basket of consumer goods and services, fell seven basis points to 9.74 percent in April. It was 9.81 percent in March.
Non-food inflation went down by 30 basis points to 9.34 percent.
Inflation has remained sticky although expectations were high that the government would take appropriate initiatives to tackle it when it took office in January. However, four months have passed since then, but no improvement is in sight.
“We are seeing deficit when it comes to implementation,” said…
