April inflation rises to 5.63 percent but minister rules out Ramadan price hike

Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal does not fear commodity prices going up during the Ramadan even though inflation rates have continued creeping upwards.

According to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics data he released on Tuesday, inflation rose to 5.63 percent in April from 5.47 percent of the same month last year.

The minister, however, is confident that it will be possible to contain the rate within the target of 5.5 percent in the current fiscal year.

General inflation on a point-to-point basis rose to 5.76 percent in the first three months of 2018, up by around 0.5 percentage points from 5.28 percent of the same period last year.

“Inflation decreased slightly in April from March. We are hopeful about keeping the rate within 5.5 percent as targeted in the budget for the current fiscal year,” Minister Kamal said.

According to BSS data, prices of food commodities like vegetables and spice fell slightly in April, but those of clothes, power and education materials coupled with healthcare costs and house rent rose.

“The government has taken all sorts of measures to supply commodities during next Ramadan. So, there is no possibility of price hikes in that month,” Kamal said.

He said paddy production has enjoyed a boost in the current season.

“Also, the government and traders have imported required food grains to tackle last year’s disaster. Production of other food commodities has also been good,” he said.

Food inflation rose to 7.03 percent in April, which was 6.94 percent in the same month last year.

Non-food commodities saw a rise to 3.49 percent in inflation in April. It was 3.3 percent in the month last year.

Inflation rose in rural areas in the month to 5.59 percent from last year’s 5.24 percent.

In urban areas, it dropped to 5.7 percent from 5.88 percent of April last year.