Monthly inflation eased last month as winter vegetables arrived coupled with continued decline in food prices in the international market.
After rising in previous month, October inflation stood at 6.19%, according to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) latest data released yesterday. It was 6.24% in September.
“Winter vegetables started to arrive in the market, which helped ease inflation,” said Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal while briefing on the monthly Consumer Price Index (CPI) at the NEC auditorium yesterday.
Persisting fall in oil and food prices in the global market also contributed to the downturn in inflation, he said.
“Prices may ease further when winter vegetable supply will increase in full season.”
Food inflation declined to 5.89% in October from 5.92% in September. The drop in food prices is primarily due to the seasonal effect — arrival of fresh winter vegetables.
Winter vegetables have begun to enter in the city’s markets from the nearby areas of Dhaka and other parts of the country.
Prices of cauliflower was sold at Tk20-Tk25 per piece in retail markets, which was almost double a month ago and a kilogramme of brinjal was priced at Tk50-Tk60 while it was as high as Tk70 a month ago, according to traders in the city’s kitchen markets.
Prices of other vegetables such as cabbage, green chilli, radish, bean, cucumber and other items also declined.
BBS data also showed that non-food inflation fell to 6.67% in October from 6.73% in September.
Overall inflation in the urban area decreased to 6.91% from 6.96% and in the rural area, it was 5.82%, down from 5.86% during the period.
In urban area, food inflation was down 7.44% from 7.47% and non-food inflation saw a fall of 6.33% from 6.37% during the period.
In rural area, food inflation was 5.23% in October, down from 5.26% in previous month while non-food inflation dropped to 6.90% against 6.99%.
The average year-to-year inflation from November 2014 to October 2015 stood at 6.21%, which was 7.18% a year earlier.