Average annual inflation rate stands at 7.7 per cent
The point-to-point inflation rose by 0.11 percentage point in June and stood at 7.97 per cent from 7.86 per cent in May mainly because of price hike of food items ahead of Ramadan, the month of fasting for the Muslim, Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics said on Sunday.
The average annual inflation in the recently concluded fiscal year 2012-13, however, came down by 2.92 percentage points to 7.70 per cent, slightly higher than the government target of 7.50 per cent set for the fiscal year, from that of 10.62 per cent in previous FY 2011-12, showed BBS statistics released on the day.
‘Traders increased the prices of some food items ahead of Ramadan that pushed the overall inflation along with food and non-food inflation upward in June,‘ BBS director general Golam Mostafa Kamal said at a news briefing organised to release the monthly Consumer Price Index (CPI) at its office.
The annual inflation, however, declined significantly in the year, thanks to successful market control strategy of the government along with stable price of rice, he said.
On a monthly basis, food inflation increased by 0.95 percentage point in June because of price hike of atta, pulse, fish, meat, spice, milk and other food items compared to prices in the previous month, he said.
Non-food inflation also rose by 0.14 percentage point in June because of rise in prices of clothing, house rent, household items, transport cost, education materials, services and other goods from that of May, he added.
The BBS data showed that point-to-point food inflation increased to 8.53 per cent in June from that of 8.40 per cent in May while non-food inflation reached at 6.99 per cent in the month from 6.93 per cent from the previous month.
According to the new base year of 2005-06 introduced by the BBS to calculate inflation, average annual inflation declined by 1.91 per cent to 6.78 per cent in FY 13 from 8.69 per cent in FY 12, the data showed.
In the base year, point-to-point inflation in June also increased to 8.05 per cent from 7.98 per cent in May.
According to the BBS data, in urban areas, the general point-to-point inflation rate was 8.67 per cent in June compared to 7.69 per cent in rural areas. The general inflation in urban areas in May was 8.45 per cent compared to 7.63 per cent in rural areas.
The food inflation increased in rural areas to 8.19 per cent in June from 8.10 per cent the month before while non-food inflation in rural areas also increased to 6.68 per cent compared to 6.67 per cent in May.
In urban areas, food inflation in June also increased to 9.29 per cent from 9.07 per cent a month ago while non-food inflation in the same month rose to 7.82 per cent from 7.61 per cent in the previous month, the BBS data showed.
-With New Age input
