Economic Reporter :
The average inflation rate remained below 6 percent in the fiscal year 2016-17 ending in June, fulfilling the target set in the national budget.
In FY17, the overall inflation dropped to 5.44 percent compared to 5.92 percent of the FY16, according to the latest data of Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS).
Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal released the data after a meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) at the NEC conference room on Tuesday.
But the general inflation in the April-June period of the outgoing fiscal year (FY17) witnessed a marginal rise compared to January-March period of the same fiscal year. While presenting the FY 17 national budget in the Jatiya Sangsad last year, Finance Minister AMA Muhith had hoped to keep the average inflation rate at 5.8 percent at the end of the fiscal year.
According to BBS data, food inflation increased to 6.01 percent in FY17 which was 4.90 percent in FY16. Non-food inflation, however, came down to 4.61 percent in FY17 from 7.43 percent in FY16.
Kamal said general inflation in April-June period of FY17 was 5.72 percent which was 5.28 percent in January-March period of the same fiscal. He attributed the rise in the inflation rate to the recent floods.
In the rural area, the inflation rate increased to 5.49 percent in April-June period of FY17 from 5.08 percent of January-March period of the fiscal.
