Inflation creeps up to 5.72pc in Apr-Jun quarter

For the first time in the country's history inflation data was released in a quarterly format, doing away with the global standard practice of releasing monthly data -- much to the criticism of economists.

In the last quarter of fiscal 2016-17, inflation edged up about 44 basis points from the previous quarter to 5.72 percent, according to the data unveiled by Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal yesterday.

The reason for the switch to quarterly reporting put forward by Kamal was the veracity of the monthly data: the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics is unable to capture the monthly changes in the Consumer Price Index timely.

“If data is released every month, in many cases the data is not accurate,” he said.

The switch in reporting frequency comes at a time when inflation, a measure of changes in the prices of a basket of goods and services, is on the rise owing to a spiral in the prices of rise, Bangladesh's staple food.

For instance, inflation stood at 5.03 percent in December last year, which crept up to 5.15 percent, 5.31 percent and 5.39 percent in the succeeding three months respectively.

“The decision to switch from monthly to quarterly CPI is a step in the wrong direction,” said Zahid Hussain, lead economist of the World Bank's Dhaka office.

The government move makes it the work of analysts and policymakers much harder, as they will need to base their inferences, forecasts and economic decision-making on hard and current data.