A staggering 96.4 per cent of the poor people have been forced to cut meat, and 88.2 per cent cut fish consumption from their day-to-day diet in the last six months.
The South Asian Network on Economic Modeling (SANEM) made the harrowing revelation at a survey dissemination event, held at a city hotel on Wednesday.
“The poorer households of the survey are now more food-insecure compared to the last six-month,” SANEM Executive Director Dr Selim Raihan said while presenting the report.
The survey was conducted among 1600 households across 8 divisions of the country, from March 9 to March 18 this year. The poor households were asked about the situation of the last six months amid the high inflation.
According to latest BBS data, Bangladesh's annual inflation rate (point to point) rose from 6.17 per cent in February 2022 to 8.78 per cent in February 2023. In some months during this period, it wants above 9 per cent.
There are concerns that the actual inflation rate might be higher for the low-income households, Raihan added.
According to the survey, the monthly average income of the families decreased up to Tk 14,025 in the last six months, while costs increased by 13.1 per cent to Tk 14,569. The figure is 13.9 per cent in urban areas.
Meanwhile, food prices rose by 17.2 per cent in the last six months.
Due to increasing daily essential commodities prices, 73.8 per cent of low-income families had to borrow to cope up with the inflation.
Among the households, 55.9 per cent people reduced non-food expenditure, 55.5 per cent witnessed erosion of the savings, 35.4 per cent relied on aid, 12.9 per cent sold properties, 10 per cent reduced child education cost, 6.9 per cent moved to cheaper rented houses, and 2.2 per cent married off their daughters early.
