Food inflation down in April despite essential price hike: BBS

While both wholesale and retail prices of essential items are increasing, food inflation decreased by 0.1 percentage point to 6.24 per cent in April from 6.34 per cent in March.

The point-to-point general inflation, however, increased to 6.29 per cent in April, the highest in 18 months, from 6.22 per cent in March.

The Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) revealed these in a report titled “Consumer Price Index (CPI), Inflation Rate and Wage Rate Index (WRI) in Bangladesh” and published on Wednesday night.

Inflation in rural areas rose to 6.59 per cent in April from 6.52 per cent in March while that in urban areas went up to 5.75 per cent in April from 5.69 per cent in March, BBS data shows.

Director of BBS National Accounts Wing Md Ziauddin Ahmed said edible oil prices had increased slightly in

April but that of rice, onion, garlic, vegetables, and some other essentials were a bit low.

That was why food inflation had fallen compared to the previous month, he said.

He also said BBS gathers data from markets across Bangladesh in the first 15 days of a month, which is then averaged to determine monthly inflation on a point-to-point basis.

But Centre for Policy Dialogue’s Distinguished Fellow Professor Mustafizur Rahman said government data showed food inflation had decreased in April though the prices of all kinds of commodities rose that month.

He also said the government agency should be more careful about collecting accurate food prices to prepare inflation data.

The prices of soybean oil, vegetables, fruits, and many other essential commodities increased in Ramadan, which was in April. Besides, the prices of food and other commodities have been rising on the global market for some time due to the Russia-Ukraine war impacts on the world economy.

BBS data shows non-food inflation increased to 6.39 per cent in April from 6.04 per cent in March.

In April, food inflation in villages decreased to 6.64 per cent from 6.71 per cent in March. On the other hand, non-food inflation jumped to 6.5 per cent from 6.15 per cent in March.

Moreover, food inflation in urban areas was 5.31 per cent last month, down from 5.49 per cent in March. However, non-food inflation in these areas increased to 6.25 per cent from 5.9 per cent in March.