Staff Correspondent:

Inflation in Bangladesh continued its downward trend in February at 9.32%, slightly lower than January’s 9.94%, according to the latest data from the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) released on Thursday (March 6).

The general point-to-point inflation at the national level was 9.67% in February last year.

In February this year, food inflation was 9.24% compared to 10.72% in the previous month, declining by 2.2 percentage points.

The decrease in food inflation contributed to an overall reduction in general inflation.

Non-food inflation, however, stood at 9.38% in February, slightly higher than 9.32% in January.

The figure for general inflation stood at 12.92% in December and 13.8% in November.

This marks the second time in four months that inflation has returned to The last time inflation was below 10% was in September 2023, when it stood at 9.92%.

Earlier on 4 February, Finance Adviser Salehuddin Ahmed said it would take another two to three months for inflation to decrease as government measures take effect.

Acknowledging that high inflation is causing difficulties, he said several initiatives have already been implemented to address the issue.

The adviser also stated that further steps would be taken to stabilise the prices of essential commodities during Ramadan.

The government expects these measures to help bring average inflation down to 6%–7% by June.

According to data from the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), monthly overall inflation has remained above 9% for over two and a half years.

US tops remittance inflows to Bangladesh in February

Remittance inflows to Bangladesh rose to $2.52 billion in February. The highest remittance was received from the United States, amounting to $491 million.

According to a report published by Bangladesh Bank on Thursday, the other top 10 remittance-sending countries include the United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Oman, Kuwait, Italy, Qatar, and Singapore.

The second-highest remittance – $335 million – came from the UAE. Additionally, Saudi Arabia contributed $329 million in remittance, followed by the UK with $305 million, Malaysia with $183 million, Kuwait with $141 million, Oman with $124 million, Italy with $111 million, Qatar with $100 million, and Singapore with $79 million.

In terms of regions, the Dhaka division received the highest remittance in February – $1.22 billion. Remittance inflows to other divisions stood at $727 million in Chattogram, $207 million in Sylhet, $107 million in Khulna, $81 million in Barishal, $77 million in Rajshahi, $55 million in Mymensingh, and $48 million in Rangpur.

The report also shows that during the month, state-owned banks received $895 million, specialised banks received $202 million, private banks received $1.42 billion, and foreign banks received $5.8 million in remittance.

It is to be noted that the total remittance inflow was $2.16 billion in the same period last year.