Food inflation rises in Q1 of current FY: Muhith
UNB
Finance Minister AMA Muhith yesterday admitted that the food inflation in the first quarter of the current fiscal (2017-18) increased but the non-food one marked a fall, reports UNB.
He made the statement while placing the report on budget implementation progress of the first quarter (July-Sept), the trend of income and expenditure, and macroeconomic analysis.
The finance minister said the food inflation in July was 6.95 per cent, while 7.32 per cent in August and 7.87 in September. The 12 months average after the quarter is 6.72 per cent.
The food inflation in the mentioned months was 4.35 per cent, 4.30 per cent and 5.10 in the first quarter of the 2016-17 fiscal. The 12 months average after the quarter is 4.56 per cent.
The non-food inflation in the first three months of the running fiscal was 3.53, 3.75 and 3.44 per cent while it was 6.97, 7 and 6.19 per cent during the same period of the last fiscal year. The 12 months average after the quarter of the current fiscal is 3.81 per cent while it was 7.48 per cent in the previous fiscal.
The overall inflation in the stipulated three months of the current fiscal was 5.57, 5.89 and 6.12 per cent which was 5.40, 5.37 and 5.71 per cent in the previous fiscal. The 12 months average after the quarter of the 2017-18 fiscal is 5.55 per cent while it was 5.71 during the last fiscal.
Muhith said although the first quarter of the last fiscal saw a negative growth in earning from the remittance, the situation is improving gradually. The remittance inflow has increased by 4.4 per cent in the first quarter of the current fiscal compared to the previous year.
Highlighting some key macroeconomic indicators during the first quarter (July-Sept) of the current fiscal year, he said the revenue collection under the NBR rose by 19.3 per cent, the overall public expenditure increased by 8.7 per cent, the ADP implementation rate was 10.2 per cent that was 8.7 per cent in the last fiscal, export earnings rose to 8.7 per cent which was 8.1 per cent in the previous year, import expenditure increased by 28.4 per cent to $ 13.2 billion, the growth for opening import LCs is 36.5 per cent, the private sector credit flow increased by 17.8 per cent while the rate of general point-to-point inflation came down to 5.5 per cent from 5.7 per cent in September last.
About the overall revenue collection scenario during the first quarter, Muhith said about Tk 51,128 crore were collected during the first quarter which was about 17.8 per cent of the budgetary target which is 17.1 per cent higher than the previous year. He said the revenue collection target in the current fiscal year was earlier set at Tk 287, 990 crore.
About the government expenditure scenario during the first quarter, he said the overall government expenditure during the first quarter increased by 8.8 per cent compared to the first quarter of the last fiscal year.
On budget deficit, the Finance Minister said it was 3.1 per cent in the last fiscal year and in the current fiscal year it is anticipated to be Tk 122,277 crore, which is five per cent of the GDP.
In his statement, Muhith also touched upon various aspects of education, health, power and energy, communication infrastructure, agriculture and rural development, social welfare, expatriates welfare and industrial sector.
The Finance Minister, however, said Rohingya influx and their repatriation issues have added a new dimension towards fixing socioeconomic action plan.
