STAR BUSINESS REPORT

The surging inflation in Bangladesh has sent living costs to such an extent that many families are grappling to maintain a decent life with limited budgets, said the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) yesterday.

A four-member family requires at least Tk 29,206 to live in Dhaka even if they compromise on their diets. The amount is far below the minimum wages of labourers working in the industrial sector, it said.

In order to cope with the higher cost of living, the low-income families are forced to trim their lists, said the think-tank at a media briefing at its office on the state of Bangladesh’s economy in the fiscal year of 2021-22.

“Apart from the higher price of basic food items, the high price of non-food items is putting a huge burden on households. Crowd-sourced data shows that maintaining even a modest standard of living is becoming prohibitively expensive for households in Dhaka,” said CPD Executive Director Fahmida Khatun.

Inflation shot up to 6.29 per cent in April, the highest in 18 months. It was 6.22 per cent in March.

Based on the data of the Bangladesh Urban Socioeconomic Assessment Survey 2019 conducted by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, the CPD said the cost of a basket of 20 common food items for a four-member family in Dhaka city was Tk 21,358 on May 30.

If the family never consumes fish, mutton, beef or chicken, the average monthly cost of food for the household would stand at Tk 8,016.

The average cost of living, including non-food expenditures such as house rents, for a household of four on a “regular” diet and living in an apartment with one bedroom outside the Dhaka city would be around Tk 42,548, said the CPD.

The expenses came down to Tk 29,206 if the family compromises or removes animal protein from its menu.