Inflation to fall below 7 pct: BBS

Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) hopes inflation will come down below 7 percent -- a target set for the 2013-14 budget.

Inflation has dropped in phases in the last three months and it will further go down, BBS Director General Golam Mostafa Kamal told a press conference on Sunday.

He said the downward trend provides confidence of bringing inflation to below 7 percent soon enough.

In the last nine months (July-Mar) of the current fiscal the average inflation has hovered at 7.55 percent.

If this continues in the remaining three months, inflation will fall below 7 percent at the end of the fiscal, Kamal said. The current fiscal year will end in June.

Finance Minister AMA Muhith had said inflation would have to be brought down below 7 percent in the current budget.

The finance minister will present the first budget of the incumbent government for the 2014-15 fiscal on June 5.

7.48 percent inflation in March

The overall inflation increased slightly in the third month after the government took office.

The point-to-point inflation rose to 7.48 percent in March from 7.44 percent in February.

In January, the inflation was 7.50 percent.

Food inflation rose to 8.96 percent in March from 8.84 percent in Febreuary.

However, inflation other than food prices came down to 5.26 percent from 5.37 percent during the period.

Food inflation increased due to rise in prices of essentials such as rice, lentil, flour, vegetables, fruits, spices, oil and milk, the BBS chief said.

On the other hand, inflation other than food prices rose due to rising prices in garment, house rent, medical, transport, education material and other services, he said.

Kamal said the inflation increased as businessmen tried to make up for the losses they incurred due to political turmoil during the Jan 5 national elections.

“Inflation saw an upward spiral due to political turmoil. But it started falling when the situation stabilised in the last few months," he said.

The average inflation was 7.55 percent in the last one year (Apr 2013-Mar 2014), against 6.23 percent in Apr 2012-Mar 2013.

The BBS published the inflation data using 2005-06 as the base year from Aug last year.

Earlier, the data was published using both 1996-96 and 2005-06 as base years.