The point-to-point inflation dropped further in September, third month in a row this fiscal year, to 7.13 per cent from 7.39 per cent in August mainly because of decrease in both food and non-food inflation, Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics said on Monday.
In July this year, the point-to-point inflation was 7.85 per cent.
According to the BBS data released on Monday, food inflation decreased to 7.93 per cent in September from 8.09 per cent in August while non-food inflation declined to 5.94 per cent from 6.35 per cent.
The inflation was calculated taking 2005-2006 as the base year.
Monthly inflation, however, increased by 0.06 percentage points to 1.48 per cent in September from that in the previous month because of price hike of food and non-food items.
Average general inflation in the last 12 months (October-2012 to
September-2013) stood at 7.37 per cent, the BBS data showed.
‘It is good news that inflation has maintained a downward trend and the consumer price index has remained stable in recent months,’ BBS director general GM Kamal said at a press briefing while releasing inflation data at the bureau’s office in the capital.
He said food inflation, on monthly basis, stood at 1.87 per cent in September because of price hike of food items such as rice, onion, atta, vegetables, spices, milk and tobacco products. In August, it was 2.08 per cent.
The prices of non-food items like house rent, clothes, furniture, household items, medical, transportation and stationery products also rose in September than those in August that resulted in an increase in non-food inflation by 0.46 percentage points to 0.90 per cent in the month, he said.
According to the BBS data, rural and urban inflation indicators also showed downward trend.
In the urban areas the general point-to-point inflation rate declined to 7.82 per cent in September from 8.34 per cent
in August while in the rural areas it decreased to 6.77 per cent from 6.90 per cent.
Food inflation decreased in the rural areas to 7.43 per cent in September from 7.50 per cent a month before and non-food inflation decreased to 5.59 per cent from 5.83 per cent.
In the urban areas food inflation dropped to 9.11 per cent in September from 9.52 per cent in August and non-food inflation fell to 6.44 per cent from 7.08 per cent.
A total of 318 items from the rural index basket and 422 items from the urban index basket were taken into account to calculate the inflation.
-With New Age input
