Inflation to tick down

Inflation may ease in the coming months, helped by falling fuel prices on the international market, Finance Minister AMA Muhith said yesterday.
The prospects of a bumper boro harvest this year also fuelled hopes for lower consumer prices, he said.
The minister spoke while presenting in parliament a report on budget implementation and macro-economic situation in the first quarter of the current fiscal year.
Muhith said the government is still hopeful of achieving the targeted GDP growth at 7 percent despite internal and external shocks.
The minister said, though inflation soared in the recent times, the International Monetary Fund predicts that the fuel price may come down to an average of $100 per barrel this year from an average of $103.2 throughout 2011.
Muhith also said bumper boro production and satisfactory growth in the agriculture sector may help ease the pressure on inflation.
High prices of petroleum and food items on the world market, high credit growth and some supply side constraints caused inflation to go high, he said.
On the implementation of the budgetary pledges in the current fiscal year, the minister said, all-out efforts have been taken to end the recent complexities with the World Bank, the lead financier of the Padma Bridge project.
Mentioning a number of projects including elevated expressway, Muhith said the work of implementing these projects is going on smoothly.
The finance minister said the formulation of a national coal policy to explore and mine the mineral and ensure its best use is near the final stage.
Muhith also said the government borrowed 40 percent of its entire year's target from the banking sector in the first quarter of the current fiscal year.
He said a fall in non-bank borrowing and foreign assistance, and a rise in expenditure on subsidy caused such borrowing to increase.
According to finance ministry statistics, net foreign assistance dropped by $1 billion in the first quarter, while Tk 4,080 crore was released on subsidy during the period.
But no money was released for the purpose in the same period last year.
The government spent Tk 27,889 crore in the first quarter of the current fiscal year out of the entire year's budget of Tk 1,63,590 crore.
The expenditure rose by 62.4 percent over the same period last year.
Of the amount, non-development expenditure went up by 66.9 percent and development expenditure by 43.9 percent over the same period last year.