New Delhi, March 24 (IANS) Bangladesh has been unable to exit the “red” category of countries, which face a risk of food inflation, for almost three years, and although overall inflation decreased somewhat due to various interim government initiatives, food inflation has increased again over the last five months, according to a report in the Bangladeshi media.

A recently published World Bank report highlighted Bangladesh’s ”red” status due to the high food inflation in the country over the last 10 months. This means that the risk of food insecurity in Bangladesh is not decreasing and could increase further due to the Middle East crisis, according to a report in Dhaka’s Prothom Alo newspaper.

Apart from Bangladesh, 13 other countries have been in the red category for 10 months. These countries are Ethiopia, Mozambique, Angola, Ghana, Mongolia, Nigeria, Tunisia, Ukraine, Zambia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Moldova, and Russia.

Selim Raihan, Executive Director of the private research institute South Asian Network on Economic Modelling (SANEM), told Prothom Alo that the increase in food inflation is quite concerning. If the Middle East crisis prolongs, it will affect the country’s imports, which could increase inflation.

Raihan also noted that compared to neighbouring countries, Bangladesh has been quite unsuccessful in reducing inflation. According to government agencies, the inflation rate is between 8.5 per cent and 9 per cent, but in reality, inflation is even higher, the report observed.

The Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) provided inflation data up to February, while the World Bank report covered up to last November. According to BBS, food inflation in February was 9.3 per cent, the highest in 13 months.

Food inflation has been significantly high for more than three years. Previously, the poor and people with limited income hadn’t experienced such prolonged hardship.

A large portion of the poor people’s income goes to buying food, sometimes up to two-thirds, and they are hit hardest during inflation.

Other countries on the World Bank list of high food inflation have moved between red, purple, yellow, and green categories over the past year. Some have improved their food inflation situation, while others have worsened.

–IANS

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