Inflation eases to 6.19 pc point in May
Dhaka: The inflation rate in the country witnessed a downtrend after its increase for the last three consecutive months as it reached 6.19 percentage point in May, 2015 down from 6.32 percentage point in April.
‘The inflation rate in May declined to 6.19 percentage point, down from 6.32 percentage point in April,’ said Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal while releasing the monthly consumer price index through his ‘Meet-the-Press’ at the NEC conference room on Wednesday.
The general inflation rate in March this year was 6.27 percentage point.
Mustafa Kamal said the main reason behind the slight fall in the inflation rate last month was due to the declining trend of price of all sorts of goods and items in the international market, including that of fuel price.
The minister said that there is no such crisis of food and non-food items ahead of Ramadan despite the announcement of the new budget. ‘Besides, there’s no mismatch in demand and the supply sides which could also be a reason behind the inflation downtrend.’
The general inflation rate began in this fiscal year with 7.04 percentage point in last July that came down at 6.91 percentage point in August, 6.84 percentage point in September, 6.60 percentage point in October, 6.21 percentage point in November, 6.11 percentage point in last December and 6.04 percentage point in January. Then the general inflation rate started rising in February with 6.14 percentage point and 6.27 percentage point in March.
Apart from the general inflation rate, the rate of food inflation also posted a declining trend while the non-food inflation witnessed an upward trend. The point-to-point food inflation at national level stood at 6.23 percentage point in this May down from 6.48 percentage point in April while the non-food inflation slightly increased to 6.14 percentage point in May, which was 6.08 percentage point in April.
Besides, the general inflation rate at the urban slightly declined to 6.87 percentage point in this May while it was 5.84 percentage point at rural level. At the rural level, the food inflation also declined to 5.66 percentage point this May, down from from 5.99 percentage point in the previous month, while the non-food inflation increased to 6.14 percentage point in May as against 6.09 percentage point in April.
In urban areas, the food inflation decreased to 7.54 percentage point in May, down from 7.62 percentage point in April. The non-food inflation rate, has however, witnessed a rising trend and it stood at 6.14 percentage point in May as against 6.07 percentage point in April.
The national wage index rate witnessed a 9.44 percent growth in May with 9238.11 which was 9169.76 point in April. The average year to year rate of inflation from June 2014 to May 2015 stood at 6.46 percent, which was 7.44 percent from June 2013 to May 2014.
Answering to a question on the reason behind the declining trend of inflation, the Planning Minister said that the price of most of the items, including consumer durables and intermediary items in international market is on the declining trend.
Besides, he said that exchange rate of Bangladesh is almost stable for the last five to six years which has also cast a positive impact on the inflation trend.
The Planning Minister also said the government earlier targeted to contain inflation within 6.50 percent in the outgoing fiscal year hoping that the rate would remain within the target in the next month and also in the outgoing year.
Replying to a question, Statistics and Informatics Division Secretary Kaniz Fatema about the slight increasing trend of non-food inflation rate said that the market rate of laundry, cleaning, clothes, and recreation fluctuates and that also led to the slight increase in the non-food items.