Bangladesh’s overall inflation has fallen to single digits for the first time in four months, while food inflation has also declined, though it remains in double digits.

According to the latest data from the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), released on Tuesday, the country’s inflation rate stood at 9.94 per cent in January.

This indicates that a product or service priced at Tk 100 in January 2024 would cost Tk 109.94 in January 2025.

Although inflation saw a slight decline in December compared to November, Bangladesh closed 2024 with double-digit inflation.

High inflation erodes people's purchasing power, making essentials like food, housing, and healthcare increasingly unaffordable. As prices rise faster than wages, many households struggle to meet daily expenses, worsening financial hardship and reducing their quality of life.

However, Finance Adviser Dr Salehuddin Ahmed Tuesday expressed optimism that the general point-to-point inflation rate will come down to between 6 to 7 per cent by June.

"It will take another two to three months for inflation to decrease as government measures take effect. If we can bring price hikes down to 6-7 per cent by June, we will consider it satisfactory," he said.

The adviser said this after a meeting of the Advisers Council Committee on Government Purchase (ACCGP) at the Secretariat in the city. " More measures would be taken to stabilise the prices of essential commodities during the holy month of Ramadan", he said.

In January, the rate dropped further but remained higher than the level recorded in the same month last year. In January 2024, the inflation rate stood at 9.86 per cent.

The main factors behind the overall inflation decline are the availability of winter vegetables and the downward trend in food inflation.

Food inflation dropped to 10.72 per cent in January, down from 12.92 per cent in December.

However, non-food inflation saw a slight increase.

It stood at 9.32 per cent in January, compared with 9.26 per cent in December.

HIGHER INFLATION IN RURAL AREAS

Inflation in rural areas remained higher than in urban areas.

In January, rural inflation stood at 10.18 per cent, down from 11.09 per cent in December. In urban areas, overall inflation dropped from 10.84 per cent in December to 9.89 per cent in January.

After taking office, Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus announced measures to control inflation. However, interest rates have been raised multiple times to curb the money supply, but essential commodity prices have yet to see significant relief.

SEASONAL IMPACT ON INFLATION

Zahid Hussain, former lead economist at the World Bank’s Dhaka office, attributed the inflation drop to seasonal factors.

He told bdnews24.com: “The supply of winter vegetables has brought prices within reach, and seasonal effects have played a role in reducing inflation.

"However, inflation is about price levels decreasing, and prices had already risen earlier. Rice prices, for instance, have not dropped, so the expected decline in inflation this winter was not as significant as anticipated," he said.

Due to various factors, inflation had surged to 11.66 per cent in July of the current fiscal year, before easing to 10.49 per cent in August.

In September, it dropped further to 9.92 per cent.

However, in October, inflation jumped by 2.07 percentage points to 10.87 per cent.

The following month, it rose another 0.51 percentage points, further straining low-income households.