Inflation fell slightly last month

Inflation decelerated by 44 basis points to 9.49 percent in November led by a decline in both food and non-food prices.

Last month, food inflation stood at 10.76 percent, down from 12.56 percent in October, while non-food inflation dropped 14 basis points to 8.16 percent, according to data published by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics yesterday.

Inflation in rural areas went down by 37 basis points to 9.62 percent. In urban areas, it fell by 56 basis points to 9.16 percent.

The rate of inflation declined slightly but the price level is still high, said Mustafizur Rahman, distinguished fellow of the Centre for Policy Dialogue.

One reason behind the decline could be the base effect and another reason could be the government's contractionary policy, he said.

"The prices of commodities that the low-income group consume are still high. As a result, the slight decline in inflation will not give any respite to them."

As people's purchasing capacity reduced, so did the aggregated demand for commodities.

"Overall, people are not getting any relief from the high prices," Rahman added.

The drop in food inflation could be because crop production has been good and the government has also allowed the import of different essential food items, said Zahid Hussain, a former lead economist of the World Bank's Dhaka office.

"Due to some progress in the supply side, the price level of food items did not decline but the pace of price hike slowed down."

It is a mixed picture when it comes to non-food inflation, he added.