The overall point-to-point inflation rate rose by 0.7 % percentage points to 9.94% in May of this year compared to a month earlier, which was the highest in over ten years, despite the government`s objective of achieving an average inflation rate of 6% in the upcoming fiscal year.
According to Bangladesh`s Consumer Price Index (CPI), Inflation Rate, and Wage Rate Index (WRI), the inflation rate was 9.24 % in April, 9.33 % in March, and 8.78 % in February.
As the government implemented several tax measures that would increase the cost of basic goods, economists predicted that inflation would pick up speed in June.
The most recent inflation statistics were released by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) on Monday. The highest inflation rate ever was 10.2% in 2011.
Meanwhile, soaring commodity costs and record fuel price increases caused Bangladesh`s inflation to hit 9.52 % in August of last year. But in September, it dropped to 9.1%. Inflation in August reached its highest level in 11.3 years.
In the proposed national budget for the fiscal years 2023–2024, the government has set a target inflation rate of 6% and an average inflation rate of 7.5% for the current fiscal year.
As a result, it won`t be possible to achieve the goal of keeping annual average inflation under 5.6% in the current fiscal year (2022-23), said Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal in his budget speech on June 1 at the parliament.
Inflation in the food industry increased to 9.24% in May from 8.84% in April. In addition, non-food inflation increased from 9.72 % in April to 9.96 % in May.
According to Bangladesh`s State Minister for Planning, Prof Shamsul Alam, the rise in global fuel costs has caused an increase in the country`s inflation rate. However, he also said that it is now impossible to predict whether inflation would continue to rise or not.
