Staff Reporter:
Inflation in Bangladesh dropped slightly to 9.24% in April, compared to a month earlier.
This figure was 9.33% in March, according to data published by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday.
Food inflation came down to 8.84% last month from the previous month’s 9.09%, while non-food inflation remained unchanged at 9.72%, according to the data from the state-run statistical agency.
The government is set to update the consumer inflation index with the addition of several goods and services, with FY22 as the new base year as price rises have upset indices locally and globally.
Officials say the updated system to measure inflation is likely to be launched next fiscal year, beginning in July, as the existing one uses FY06 as base year and fails to portray a real picture of inflation.
The update with the additional items in the basket will result in new weightings for the components of its CPI basket.
People in the BBS said they already finalized lists of the goods and services, both for urban and rural areas.
Many items, including mobile financial services (MFS), were not covered in the 2006 index.
Currently, the BBS collects price data from 140 (64 from urban, 64 from rural, and 12 from Dhaka City Corporation) main markets across the country to calculate the price indices.
Three price quotes per item are collected from each of the markets.
