Inflation almost comes to a steady position: Finance Adviser

Adviser to the interim government on the
Ministries of Finance and Commerce Dr Salehuddin Ahmed today said that the
general point to point inflation has almost come to a steady position.

“General inflation has almost declined by one percent officially… On the
whole, we’ve been able to keep the inflation at a steady position,” he said.

The Adviser was talking to reporters after chairing the 7th meeting of the
Adviser’s Council Committee on Government Purchase this year held today at
the Cabinet Division Conference Room at Bangladesh Secretariat here today.

He said despite the steady trend, it would take some time to reduce inflation
further and thus bring respite among the livelihood of people.

“You all know that we’ve taken some decisions and measures to control
inflation like reducing duty on onion and potatoes. We’ve also reduced duty
on sugar today and the reflection of that is likely to be seen in the
market,” he added.

Asked how long it would take to give full respite to people from the high
inflationary pressure, the Finance Adviser requested all to have patience in
this regard.

“The matter is complex and I don’t think that inflation has increased all of
a sudden as there are so many factors like market factors, monitoring,
production and marketing,” he added.

The Finance Adviser said from production to marketing, there are so many
tiers and issues while in the supply chain, new people have replaced the old
ones in some cases with such nature remaining almost the same.

Replying to another question, Dr Salehuddin claimed that extortion has
reduced, but there are also matters related to the law and order situation.

Asked about the high prices of eggs, he said the price of eggs has declined
today.

According to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), the general point-to-
point inflation rate eased further last month as it reached 9.92 percent in
September down from 10.49 percent in August, 2024 due to downtrend in both
food and non-food inflation.

The food inflation declined to 10.40 percent in September, 2024 down from
11.36 percent in August, 2024 while the non-food inflation rate in September
fell further to 9.50 percent down from 9.74 percent in August, 2024.

The general point to point inflation rate both at the urban and rural areas
also declined last month. (BSS)