Inflation eases in April on rice price decline

The point-to-point inflation inched down to 5.61 per cent in April from 5.65 per cent in March thanks to a decline in both food and non-food inflation, according to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics.
The overall food inflation decreased to 3.84 per cent, while the non-food inflation dropped to 8.34 per cent in April, shows the BBS data released on Tuesday.
In March, food inflation stood at 3.89 per cent and non-food inflation at 8.36 per cent.
According to the BBS data, in April last year, the point-to-point inflation was 6.32 per cent.
‘The general inflation eased a little in the month due mainly to the decline in the prices of some food items, particularly rice, in the country’s kitchen markets,’ planning minister AHM Mustafa Kamal told a press briefing after the weekly ECNEC meeting at the planning ministry in Dhaka.
The government set a target to contain the point-to-point annual inflation at 6.2 per cent in the current fiscal year, 2015-2016.
The minister said the overall inflation in the month also decreased in both urban and rural areas.
He also revealed that the rate of national wage index advanced to 6.13 per cent in April from that of 5.93 per cent in the previous month.
According to the BBS data, the monthly food inflation went up by 0.07 percentage points in April compared with that of March, because of price hike of pulse, fish, meat, spices, and tobacco products, particularly cigarette, on the domestic market.
On the other hand, the monthly non-food inflation increased by 0.03 percentage points in the month compared with that of March, due to a price rise of some non-food items including clothes, house rent, electricity, furniture and household items, treatment, transport, and education materials, the BBS report said.
All types of inflation—point-to-point, food and non-food—dropped in both rural and urban areas in April.
The overall inflation in rural areas slipped to 4.75 per cent in the month from that of 4.79 per cent in March, while in the urban areas it stood to 7.22 per cent in April compared to 7.27 per cent a month ago.
The food and the non-food inflation in rural areas declined to 3.11 per cent and 7.80 per cent respectively in April from that of 3.15 per cent and 7.82 per cent respectively in March, the BBS data shows.
On the other hand, in urban areas the food and the non-food inflation in the month stood at 5.51 per cent and 9.11 per cent respectively, which were 5.61 per cent and 9.12 per cent respectively in March.
The average annual inflation from May 2015 to April 2016 stood at 6.04 per cent, which was 6.56 per cent in the corresponding period of May 2014 to April 2015 in the last fiscal year.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net