Inflation in Bangladesh to fall 7 percent by September: BB Governor

Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr Ahsan H Mansur has projected that inflation will fall to 7 per cent by the end of September 2025, paving the way for a potential reduction in interest rates.

He made these remarks at a post-budget press conference held at the Osmani Memorial Auditorium on Tuesday (June 3), where he outlined the central bank’s confidence in stabilising the economy after months of high inflationary pressure.

“We had two big challenges - inflation and currency market volatility,” Mansur said, “Now, inflation is coming down and the exchange rate is stable. We expect inflation to reach 7 per cent between July and September. Once it does, we will also consider lowering interest rates.”

Governor Mansur noted that food inflation, which peaked at 14.5 per cent, has now dropped to 8.5 per cent, while non-food inflation has declined from 11.5 per cent to 9.09 per cent.

“If inflation and exchange rate were not under control, prices of goods would have gone up even more,” he said, “Now we have come to our senses. Even after leaving the exchange rate to the market, it has remained stable—this gives us confidence.” He credited contractionary monetary policy for the improvement and pointed out that global food and energy prices are also trending downward, offering further relief.

Meanwhile, Home Affairs and Agriculture Adviser Lieutenant General (Retd) Md Jahangir Alam Chowdhury noted that both consumers and producers are experiencing some relief as the country enters key festive seasons. “If you analyse the upcoming Eid and Ramadan markets comparatively, you’ll see that we are now in a state of relief,” he said.

He highlighted increased crop production across the board this season: Potato stocks are full, with cold storages packed and surplus potatoes stored at farmers' homes. Besides ginger, onion, and maize have seen bumper harvests.

However, he expressed concern over the falling prices of vegetables due to seasonal gaps and post-harvest losses. “Farmers’ vegetables often spoil during the one-month transition between winter and summer crops,” he explained.

To address this, the government is setting up about 100 small cold storages, four large-scale potato storage facilities, around 500 onion storage rooms capable of preserving produce for four to five months, he said. “These facilities will be ready before the next vegetable season,” he assured.