Bangladesh's annual inflation cools for third month

Bangladesh's annual inflation inched down in October to 6.60 percent from 6.84 percent a month ago, cooling for the third successive month due to a fall in global commodity prices.

Food inflation edged down to 7.16 percent from 7.63 percent in September, while non-food inflation rose to 5.74 percent from 5.63 percent, officials at the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday.

Annual inflation in Bangladesh accelerated to 7.35 percent in the last fiscal year that ended in June, up from 6.78 percent the previous year, exceeding a target of 7 percent on food prices.

Food prices went up in the last financial year as supplies of basic foodstuffs were hit by frequent transport blockades and other unrest in the run-up to elections in January.

The government aims to hold inflation below 7 percent in the current fiscal year. The central bank has kept its key policy rates unchanged since February last year, when it cut rates by half a percentage point on a slower economic growth outlook.

In June, however, the central bank raised banks' reserve requirement ratio by 50 basis points, its first increase since 2010, in a move to mop up excess cash to cool inflationary pressures.