Food is getting beyond reach for Bangladeshi poor due to skyrocketing prices
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Dhaka, Bangladesh: The poor of Bangladesh are increasingly facing food price hikes: Rice, wheat, pulses and cooking oil have gone up as wages have failed to rise in line with inflation.
A recently released Bangladesh Bank Annual Report for the July 2006 - June 2007 fiscal year said wage rates increased by only 4.5% compared to 9.8% the previous year.
Wage rate increases in the manufacturing, agricultural, fisheries and construction sectors stayed below the consumer price inflation rate of 7.2% during this period. And with the price of food essentials increasing by as much as 27% over the past four months alone, experts are concerned. Manufacturing sector wages increased by 4.3% compared to 10.7% the previous year, the report said. The agriculture sector, which employs most of the country's workforce, registered an increase of 4.44% in wage rates against 11.12% the previous year. According to 2005 official data, nearly 40% of Bangladesh's over 150 million inhabitants live on US $1 or less per person per day. Cyclone, flood impact The average inflation rate for 2008 has been projected to fall within the 8.1-8.5% range. Economic prospects in the short and medium terms are likely to be affected by last year’s monsoon floods and the cyclone in November, especially in the first half of 2008, the report warned. Consecutive floods in August and September affected the north, central and eastern region of Bangladesh comprising 46 of the country’s 64 districts, destroying standing crops on 1.35 million hectares and killing 1,110 people, over 80% of them children. Immediately after the floods, Cyclone Sidr struck the southwest of the country on 15 November, killing over 3,000 and rendering millions more homeless. Crops on a further 2.47 million hectares of land were destroyed. The bank’s annual report identified a number of risks for the country's economy in 2008, including rising inflation, high international oil prices, and political developments in the run-up to general elections due by October 2008. A major challenge for policymakers was to contain inflation, as low inflation is imperative to accelerate economic growth and poverty reduction, the report said. Source: IRIN |
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