Rising food prices push inflation to 8.29% in Nov

Inflation in
Bangladesh rose to 8.29 percent in November, driven largely by higher food
prices, highlighting persistent pressures on households, especially those with
low or fixed incomes.
The figure, released yesterday by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), is
slightly higher than October's 8.17 percent but remains well below last year's
11.38 percent for the same month.
Data from the
BBS show that the consumer price index (CPI), which tracks changes in a basket
of goods and services, climbed in both rural and urban areas.
According to the Trading
Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB), essential food items such as rice, flour,
edible oils, lentils and onions, have witnessed an increase in November.
Besides, late autumn rain disrupted supplies and pushed up winter vegetable
prices.
Bangladesh has been grappling with persistent inflation for nearly three years.
Consumer prices stayed over 9 percent until May 2025 and have remained over 8
percent since then, sparking renewed debate about the effectiveness of recent
economic policies.
"Despite minor
fluctuations, there has been no meaningful change in the underlying
trend," said Selim Raihan, a professor of economics at the University of
Dhaka.
He noted that while the
Bangladesh Bank has tried to curb aggregate demand by raising interest rates,
such monetary adjustments alone have been insufficient to achieve lasting price
stability.
"This is because gaps in policy coordination, structural weaknesses in
markets, and external shocks have collectively kept inflation elevated,"
he added.
Raihan said the recent surge
in prices of essential food items such as onions and vegetables has been a key
driver of inflation.
"This clearly reveals
how fragile the agricultural supply system remains and how limited competition
in markets directly pushes consumer prices upward," he added.
Volatility in global markets
and dependence on imports have further compounded the situation, Raihan, also
executive director of the South Asian Network on Economic Modeling (Sanem),
pointed out.
"In other words, current
inflation is largely driven by supply-side pressures, where conventional
monetary tools like raising interest rates have limited effects," he said.
Raihan added that addressing
inflation requires not only monetary measures but deeper institutional reforms.
These include disciplining anti-competitive market practices, improving
supply-chain efficiency, ensuring transparency in trade and imports, and
investing in agricultural production.
The economist said a lack of
coordination among fiscal policy, monetary policy, and market oversight as a
key obstacle to controlling prices. "Inflation today is not merely a
macroeconomic indicator; it reflects institutional weaknesses and policy
inconsistencies."
The solution, he said,
lies in building a coherent, credible, and long-term policy environment.
Economist Mustafa K Mujeri also made similar observations, saying that
Bangladesh's prolonged high-inflation environment is unlikely to ease without
stronger policy coordination beyond monetary tightening,
He said that the country has
been living in a "high-inflation regime for more than three years,"
while the only major tool used so far has been monetary policy.
"The policy rate has
been raised gradually and kept at around 10 percent for more than a year,"
he said, adding that the key policy gap is the absence of supportive measures
to complement monetary tightening.
Striking a similar tone to
Raihan, he said, "In Bangladesh, monetary policy alone cannot control
inflation."
Mujeri, executive director of
the Institute for Inclusive Finance and Development (InM), highlighted that
supply-side factors are a major driver of inflation in Bangladesh, limiting the
effectiveness of interest-rate adjustments.
Election spending and
non-productive expenditures in the coming months could push inflation even
higher, he warned.
He said, "If the
election is held in February, money circulation - both formal and informal -
will rise.
"Candidates will spend
heavily, and government expenditure on election-related activities will also
increase. These are not production-oriented expenditures."
He added that
investment-driven production growth is unlikely during this period, while
Ramadan, traditionally associated with price hikes, is likely to further
intensify pressures in March.
Mujeri said whichever
government assumes office after the polls will need time to take effective
policy measures, delaying any immediate stabilisation.
















