A file photo shows traders filling a sack with paddy at Ashuganj in Brahmanbaria. The overall point-to-point inflation further declined slightly in May to 9.15 per cent but the average inflation in 11 months of the current fiscal year remained in double digit. — New Age photo

The overall point-to-point inflation further declined slightly in May to 9.15 per cent but the average inflation in 11 months of the current fiscal year remained in double digit.
The point-to-point overall inflation decreased to 9.15 per cent in May from 9.93 per cent in the previous month because of decline in prices rice, atta, sugar and some other food items, Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics director general, Shahjahan Ali Mollah, told reporters at a press briefing in its conference room.
However, the average inflation rate in the last 11 months (July 2011–May 2012) was over 10.50 per cent, much higher than the government’s target to keep it at 7.50 per cent in the current fiscal year.
The average inflation was 8.67 per cent in the previous year (June 2010–May 2011).
The inflation came down to single digit in April, after hovering over double digit for 13 months since February 2011 when the inflation was 9.79 per cent.
The inflation rate marked a record 11.97 per cent in September 2011.
‘The inflation decreased remarkably as food and non-food inflation at rural and urban levels  declined in the month,’ Shahjahan Ali said.
BBS data showed that food inflation on point-to-point basis decreased to 7.46 per cent in the month from 8.12 in April mainly because of a decline in prices of rice, atta, sugar and other food items which helped inflation to come down.
The point-to-point non-food inflation also came down to 12.72 per cent in May from 13.77 per cent in the month before, he said.
However, on a monthly basis, food inflation decreased by one percent and non-food inflation increased by 0.03 per cent in May compared to the previous month, he added.
Shahjahan Ali termed the inflation as tolerable for common people as wage rates also increased in May.
It is a good news for general people that inflation is declining while on the other hand, the wage rate is increasing which made their livelihood tolerable, he said.
In May, the national wage rate increased to 14.73 per cent from 13.63 per cent in April.
However, decreasing inflation will not make any positive change on the livelihood of middle class and fixed earners’ daily life as there is no increase in income of the two classes of people, he added.
In reply to a question on how the inflation come down while the prices of food and non-food items remained unchanged and some increased, Shahjahan said that the BBS had released what they had found in the markets across the country.
Though the prices of non-food items increased a little bit in May compared to month before but point-to-point non-food inflation declined, he explained.
According to the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh, prices of some food items like eggs, lentil and onion increased in May compared to April.
In urban areas, the general point-to-point inflation rate was 11.12 per cent in May compared with 8.38 per cent in rural areas. The general inflation in urban areas in April was 11.77 per cent compared with 9.21 percent in rural areas.
The food inflation decreased in rural areas to 6.30 per cent in May from 7.01 per cent the month before while non-food inflation in rural areas also decreased to 12.82 per cent compared with 13.97 per cent in April.
In urban areas, food inflation in May also decreased to 10.17 per cent, lower from 10.72 per cent in April while non-food inflation in the same month also fell to 12.44 per cent from 13.25 per cent in previous month.