Inflation dropped to 5.02% last month: BBS

Inflation dropped to 5.02 percent in January thanks to arrival of winter vegetables that contributed to the decline in prices last month, data by Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) showed.

In December, inflation, a measure of changes in prices of a basket of final commodities and services, was 5.29 percent.

A decline in prices of non-food items also contributed to dampening of overall inflation, easing pressure on the wallets of consumers, although a large part of the population -- especially poor and low-income groups -- still have to bear the high prices of rice.

Prices of coarse grain, a benchmark followed by policymakers as it is consumed by the poor, was Tk 44-48 each kg at retail level on January 31, 2021, down 3.16 percent from Tk 45-50 on the last day 2020, data by Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) showed.