Salehuddin Ahmed, finance and planning adviser to the interim government, yesterday said inflation in Bangladesh will go down within a reasonable amount of time.

However, newly-appointed Bangladesh Bank Governor Ahsan H Mansur said the burden of spiralling prices may be brought to tolerable levels within the next five to six months.

"I will not tell you to go to the market tomorrow and see how prices have declined because that will not be the case," Ahmed said while speaking to reporters at the Secretariat following a meeting on prices, production and supply of essentials.

"However, it will also not be the case that decades are required to reduce inflation," he added.

Ahmed also said the government would emphasise improving supply and production to tame inflation.

Alongside taking various measures in this regard, it will also evaluate whether those are effective.

Moreover, the interim government will impose measures or policies that are easily digestible, he added.

The meeting was also attended by the central bank governor, secretaries of the finance, commerce, and food ministries as well as senior officials of other relevant ministries.

After the meeting, the new central bank governor said it would be possible to work on the domestic market from three angles, one of which is the supply side.

"This relates to how we can increase supply by increasing production and create a positive impact on the market," he added.

Second, issues like extortion that have come to the fore need to be addressed. The third will be addressing demand-side issues.

Bangladesh Bank is already working to this end and there will be a review to know whether more can be done, Mansur said.

He said another important challenge is the dearth of foreign currency, as a result of which Bangladesh is currently unable to import as per previous levels, impacting the overall market.

Mansur said keeping inflation at a tolerable level will be possible within five to six months if issues like foreign currency reserves, extortion and lower production are addressed adequately.

"We are hoping for that but we need time to work," he added.

He also said it is not possible to solve the foreign currency crunch overnight.

Apart from that, Mansur said the reserves cannot be reduced illogically and that a minimum level has to be maintained. This is because an illogical decline would lower investor confidence in the market.

So, the central bank needs to maintain the minimum reserve level in sectors where US dollars are used for imports, he said, adding that calculated steps should be taken in this regard.

He also informed that they would discuss the issue with development partners.