Overall headline inflation in Bangladesh rose to 8.34 per cent in September from 8.26 per cent in August, while the rate of wage growth slowed down, creating a scenario where living expenses increased alongside declining real income growth.
The latest data released by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) on Tuesday highlights this growing financial squeeze on households.
According to the BBS update, national food inflation accelerated to 7.22 per cent in September, up from 7.02 per cent in August. In contrast, non-food inflation at the national level experienced a slight decline, easing to 9.30 per cent in September compared to 9.32 per cent in the previous month.
Rural vs urban inflation trends
A regional breakdown reveals that rural areas experienced higher general inflation than urban centers in September. General inflation in rural regions climbed to 8.38 per cent in September, up from 8.31 per cent in August.
This rural increase was driven by food inflation, which moved up to 7.18 per cent in September from 7.01 per cent in August, even as rural non-food inflation posted a marginal drop from 9.59 per cent to 9.57 per cent over the same period.
Meanwhile, urban areas recorded an average general inflation rate of 8.26 per cent in September, compared to 8.20 per cent in August.
Urban food inflation rose from 7.04 per cent in August to 7.25 per cent in September, whereas urban non-food inflation edged down from 8.97 per cent to 8.94 per cent.
Income pressure and methodology
Compounding the pressure of rising price levels, wage rate growth experienced a downturn. According to the BBS Wage Rate Index (WRI), the national general wage growth rate fell to 7.90 per cent in September from 8.05 per cent in August.
The BBS compiled and analysed these statistics using data collected from 143 markets across all 64 districts nationwide.
