Bangladesh has been experiencing the highest rate of inflation among South Asian (SA) countries, thanks to unbridled price hike of daily necessities, and goods and services.
Among the South Asian countries, general inflation is the highest in Bangladesh reaching 11.66 per cent in July 2014, which was 10. 49 per cent in June, according to Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS).
In fact, while Bangladesh’s inflation rate has risen drastically, its neighbours India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and Maldives have managed to bring down their inflation rates drastically owing to pragmatic macro-economic policies and proper market management.
Just two years back, Sri Lanka was facing one of the worst financial crisis since its independence, with record high inflation of 69.8 per cent as of September 2022 and foreign exchange reserves nearing depletion.
But the country (Sri Lanka) well-managed its economic crisis with inflation rate nosedived significantly. The country is now experiencing a low level of inflation which was 5 per cent in August 2024.
In August, the general rate of inflation was 3.65 per cent in India, and 9.64 per cent in Pakistan, according to Central Bank of India and Pakistan.
Besides, neighbouring Bhutan and Nepal have been experiencing a low level of inflation with prices of goods and commodities remained stable.
Bhutan’s in inflation rate in July was 2.04 per cent while it was 3.57 per cent in Nepal, and 1.4 per cent in Maldives.
The updated data of August inflation in Bhutan, Nepal and Maldives are yet to be published by the countries authorities concerned.
According to the media reports, in the last one month there has been no major change in the overall commodity prices in Nepal, Maldives and Bhutan. So, overall inflation rates in those countries will remain unchanged in August as well.
In the last two fiscal years, the average rate of inflation has been above 9 per cent in Bangladesh. However, economists and analysts were skeptical about the data of inflation released by the BB. They believe that the actual rate of inflation was higher than the figure of BBS data pointing to the gap between the rate of increase in the prices of goods in the market and the inflation.
They said each and every government institution of the country has been used politically during the Awami League regime and BBS is one of the most widely used institutions in promoting the government's development and growth narrative by manipulating key data of the economy.
Analysts said BBS has been used to produce and present false and questionable statistics on every sector of the economy, from population, GDP growth during the Awami League government that was ousted by the mass uprising on August 5 and then an interim government led by Professor Muhammad Yunus took charge of Bangladesh.
Even after the change of government, question raised about the credibility of inflation data available from BBS. Despite the severe floods in the south-eastern part of the country as well as the increase in the prices of daily necessities, BBS data showed a decrease in inflation in August.
In August, inflation eased but remained at over 10 per cent, as higher prices of goods and services continued to strain the purchasing power of consumers. The rate of inflation stood at 10.49 per cent last month, according to BBS data.
