Inflation yet to reach uncomfortable level: State minister for planning
State Minister for Planning Dr Shamsul Alam said the country's inflation has not reached so high as to become uncomfortable.
Defending his statement, the state minister drew examples of Zimbabwe and Pakistan having 300% and 40% inflation respectively.
"We have inflation but not at hyper level and it is mainly production cost-based. Even India's inflation is higher than ours," said the state minister after the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) meeting on Sunday (12 March).
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"Although inflation increased in February, reporting at 8.78%, a downward trend prevailed in the last few months," he noted.
Shamsul Alam also claimed that the national wage rate has increased more in comparison to the rise in inflation.
"The national wage rate has risen by 26% in recent times, which helped prevent inflation from reaching an uncomfortable level," he observed.
National inflation rose to 8.78% in February, up from 8.57% in January, on a point-to-point basis, according to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics.
He also said that consumer inflation is calculated taking prices of over 400 products into consideration.
"The prices of many products are falling. But the rate goes up due to price hikes of a few products," the state minister argued.
