Bangladesh’s December inflation leaps to 7.35 pct over “political instablity”‏

DHAKA, Jan. 7 (NsNewsWire) — Bangladesh’s inflation leaped to 7.35 percent in December 2013 due to soaring food costs, official figures showed Tuesday.
According to data released by Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics ( BBS), “the inflation rate went up from November’s 7.15 percent to 7.35 percent in December.”
The BBS data showed that the country’s food prices grew at 9 percent in December from 8.55 percent in November, reports Xinhua.
BBS Director General Golam Mostafa Kama told reporters in press briefing that food inflation soared in the last month due to “political instability” which heavily disrupted transportation across the country.
Bangladesh has been witnessing waves of blockades and general strikes enforced by opposition parties since Nov. 26, during which only weekly and public holidays are exempted.
In case of non-food items the rate of inflation, however, declined to 4.88 percent in December 2010 from 5.08 percent in November, the BBS data showed.
The average inflation rate in Bangladesh during the 12 months of the last year reached 7.53 percent, which was 6.35 percent in 2012.
Price hike of food items particularly staple rice is a key concern for Bangladesh’s government as nearly 31 percent of its about 153 million people live on less than two U.S. dollar a day and spend a large part of their income on food purchase.
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