Bangladesh's inflation surges to 9.92% in August amid soaring food costs

Dhaka : Bangladesh's inflation leaped to 9.92 per cent in August, from 9.69 per cent the previous month, driven by higher food prices, the country's statistics agency reported Sunday.

The Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) data showed that food inflation increased to 12.54 per cent in August from 9.76 per cent in the previous month, Xinhua news agency reported.

Non-food items inflation eased to 7.95 per cent in August from 9.47 per cent in July, the data showed. Inflation in Bangladesh jumped to 9.94 per cent in May, the highest in the past decade, also mainly driven by higher food prices.

Bangladeshi Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal said earlier in his budget speech that there has been a recent spike in prices, mainly due to external factors. According to the budget proposal, Bangladesh targets an average inflation rate of 6.5 percent in the current fiscal year from July 2023 to June 2024.