Inflation in Bangladesh rose to 9.5 percent in August—a rise of 2.02 percentage points—due to rising commodity prices and a record hike in fuel prices, according to state minister for planning Shamsul Alam. Though the price gain spiralled in August, it declined to 9.1 percent in September, he told a business daily. The annual point-to-point inflation in July was 7.48 percent.
Inflation in August and September was the highest in the last 11 years. The Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) is yet to official release the August inflation data.
The country’s finance division, in an earlier report, had projected that inflation might surpass 9 percent if the subsidies on fuel and gas are withdrawn. The division also assumed that it might take at least 12 months for the effects to reach a tolerable level.
Planning minister MA Mannan, at an earlier event, unofficially said that inflation declined in September. The sales of different essential commodities at subsidised prices for the lower-income people contributed to the fall in inflation, he claimed.