Nasima Begum, a 45-year-old housewife in Dhaka, stood in a long queue at a subsidised food sale in Basabo, hoping to buy rice and other essentials at affordable prices.
“But even getting the subsidised goods is a struggle,” she said, describing overcrowding, pushing and long waits that sometimes end without people getting what they came for.
Nasima, who lives with her husband and three children, has had to change her family's eating habits to cope with rising prices.
“We used to manage fish or meat at least once a month, but now even that is difficult,” she told Dhaka Tribune.
A few kilometres away in Malibagh, rickshaw puller Ripon Mia faces a similar squeeze.
Supporting a family of four, he now often settles for tea and ruti at a roadside tea stall for lunch instead of a meal of rice and an egg.
“I used to eat rice with an egg and sometimes vegetables, but even that is no longer affordable on my current income,” he said.
“I cannot raise fares to offset the rising costs because passengers object. After meeting household expenses, little is left for food,” he added.
The strain is evident in the quantities people buy and the meals they choose, both at home and outside.
At Jatrabari, retailer Md Mintu said customers were buying smaller quantities of essential goods.
Some who previously bought five litres of cooking oil now buy only two, while those who bought a litre settle for half. The price of flour at his shop has risen from around Tk50 a kilogram a month ago to Tk65–70.
“Income is low compared with the prices of goods. People are feeling the strain,” he said.
Pickup driver Md Jashim's family now buys only what it needs immediately, adopting a bare-minimum approach to daily living.
Jashim recently spent about an hour in a queue at a subsidised food sale in Shahjahanpur to buy essential food grains. His wife now works in neighbouring households, earning an additional Tk3,000 a month on top of his monthly income of Tk15,000–20,000.
“Even with that extra income, we have to calculate every expense before spending because of the rising cost of living,” he said.
Restaurants are feeling the impact as well. Mohammad Kabir, who runs a restaurant in Rampura, said customers who once ordered meat were switching to vegetables, while some who previously ordered kebabs and roti were settling for a single Mughlai paratha.
“Nowadays, for many lower-middle-income people, eating at a restaurant has become a luxury,” he said.
Wages lag behind inflation
According to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), general inflation rose to 8.34% in September from 8.26% in August, while food inflation increased to 7.22% from 7.02%.
The national wage rate index grew by 7.90%, falling short of general inflation. This suggests that wage growth is not fully keeping pace with rising prices, although the effects vary across households.
Higher fuel prices have added to the pressure. On September 21, the government raised the prices of diesel, petrol, octane and kerosene by Tk20 per litre. Traders have cited higher transport costs and paddy prices as factors behind recent increases in rice prices.
During visits to several Dhaka markets this week, a Dhaka Tribune reporter found fine rice selling at Tk74–75 a kilogram, up from Tk72 a week earlier. Medium-grain rice was priced at Tk58–65, compared with Tk55–62 previously, while coarse rice remained at Tk50–55.
Eggs were selling at Tk155–160 a dozen, up from Tk130–135 a year earlier. Broiler chicken cost Tk180–200 a kilogram, while beef was priced at Tk780–800.
However, Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) data showed no weekly increase in rice prices and a decline in the price of fine rice. TCB Assistant Director Shatadal Mondal said the agency would examine the discrepancy.
Middle-income families face mounting pressure
Salaried households are also struggling as food, housing and transport costs rise simultaneously.
Mehedi Hasan Sohel, who works for a private organisation in Karwan Bazar, now earns Tk35,000 a month, up from Tk30,000 last year.
However, his family's monthly food expenses have risen from Tk12,000 to Tk15,000, absorbing Tk3,000 of his Tk5,000 salary increase.
His transport costs have also increased, as overcrowded buses sometimes force him to take a motorcycle or a CNG-powered auto-rickshaw.
Sabbir Rahman, an employee of a private company in Savar, has been struggling with debt for about a year.
“I don't know how, but somehow, prices and my salary are worlds apart. I cannot make my income match the cost of living. If I buy one thing, I cannot buy another,” he said.
Professor Selim Raihan, executive director of the South Asian Network on Economic Modeling (SANEM), said persistent inflation was putting substantial pressure on purchasing power, particularly among low- and lower-middle-income households.
Even where nominal wages have increased, he said, they often fail to keep pace with the cumulative rise in food, housing, transport and energy costs.
“As a result, many households are cutting food consumption, compromising dietary quality, postponing healthcare and education spending, or drawing down savings and taking on debt,” he added.
Nazneen Ahmed, executive director of the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), said the Open Market Sale (OMS) programme supports vulnerable households struggling with high prices.
“In view of inflation, food distribution should have been increased. But we see the opposite,” she said.
Md Moniruzzaman, director of the Procurement Division at the Directorate General of Food, said the government had around 1.964 million tonnes of rice and 310,000 tonnes of wheat in stock. Including floating stocks, total reserves stood at approximately 2.3 million tonnes.
However, he and Md Abdus Salam, director of the Supply, Distribution and Marketing Division, could not provide current figures on food distribution or details of the procedures involved.
Experts say food stocks indicate the country's supply capacity but do not necessarily reflect whether households can afford food or how much reaches consumers through subsidised programmes.
Millions face acute food insecurity
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), citing an analysis by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), projected that 18.1 million people in Bangladesh could face high levels of acute food insecurity between September and December 2026, up from 15.3 million during May–August.
Of them, around 787,000 people were projected to face emergency-level food insecurity.
Nutrition specialist Dr Md Shohag warned that when households replace eggs, fish and meat with diets dominated by rice and flour, they may continue to receive enough calories but fail to meet their protein and micronutrient requirements.
“Such deficiencies can hamper children's development and reduce adults' working capacity and resistance to disease,” he said.