DHAKA: Bangladesh’s annual inflation eased slightly in January as food prices rose at a slower pace, the planning minister said on Tuesday.
Consumer prices in January were 6.07 percent higher than a year earlier, slowing from a rise of 6.10 percent in December, Mustafa Kamal told a news conference.
Annual food inflation in January fell to 4.33 percent from 5.48 percent the previous month while non-food inflation increased to 8.74 percent from 7.05 percent.
World food prices fell to near a seven-year low in January, weighed down by declines for agricultural commodities, particularly sugar, the United Nations food agency said last week.
Last month, Bangladesh’s central bank cut its key interest rates by half a percentage point for the first time in nearly three years as cooling inflation gives it more manoeuvring room to help spur economic growth.
Inflation in Bangladesh eased to 6.41 percent in the last fiscal year that ended in June 2015, from 7.35 percent the previous year.
