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Inflation hits 25-month high

Onion price spiral finally hitting consumer price index

Star Business Report
Inflation leapt 45 basis points last month to 6.12 percent, a 25-month high, on the back of the runaway prices of onion, a key cooking ingredient for local cuisine.
"The main culprit is onion,” said Planning Minister MA Mannan while unveiling the latest inflation figures yesterday.
Onion prices surged as much as eight times since India, the main source of the tuber, imposed a ban on its export on September 15 in the face of a supply
shortage as a result of crop damage.
At one point, it became possible to purchase 4-5 kilograms of rice for one kg of onion.
The onion price spiral, however, did not impact the consumer price index right away: last month inflation came down 7 basis points to 5.47 percent in October.
Speculative hoarding and panic buying locally further contributed to the onion price spiral, said Zahid Hussain, former lead economist of the
World Bank's Dhaka office.
In November food inflation stood at 6.11 percent, up 80 basis points from October, while non-food inflation edged up 4 basis points to 6.13 percent.
Prices of other spices also increased as did rice prices with aman harvest yet to come in, Hussain said.
"Increase in non-food inflation was small, but still a concern as this constitutes a partial reversal of the decline in October."
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The government has targeted a 5.5 percent inflation rate for this fiscal year. It was able to contain it at 5.48 percent in fiscal 2018-19, which is comfortably below the target of 5.6 percent.
"Inflation is in control but it is going in a
zigzag way," Mannan said, while expressing hope that it will come down in December thanks to the harvest of winter vegetables and onion. With demand growth slowing, ensuring smooth functioning of the supply chain will be the key to keep inflation within target, Hussain added.