“When the interim government took charge, expectations were high,” according to an opinion piece in Bangladesh’s The Business Standard. “A year and a half later, that hope has thinned. Prices have not come down. Inflation has not been tamed. Instead, it has settled into a kind of uneasy permanence,” it added.
It described Dhaka’s wet markets being quieter; shoppers buying less, going for cheaper items as rising prices squeeze household budgets.
“The interim government came with promises of relief, and now, as its tenure nears its end, the weight of daily expenses feels largely unchanged,” stated the article.
Bangladesh's current inflation is not primarily driven by excess consumption, the newspaper insisted, but rooted in supply-side constraints and deep structural weaknesses.
According to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, point-to-point inflation rose again to 8.49 per cent in December 2025, up from 8.29 per cent in November.
Inflation continued above 8 per cent for 41 consecutive months; food inflation climbed to 7.71 per cent in December – highest in seven months – while non-food inflation reached 9.13 per cent, it quoted.
Meanwhile, wages failed to keep pace, where in December, nominal wage growth stood at 8.07 per cent. And for the 47th straight month, wage growth lagged behind inflation.
“In real terms, incomes are shrinking. This gap explains why markets feel subdued: people are not spending less by choice, but by necessity,” argued the report.
The article pointed out inflation is driven mainly by supply‑side constraints and structural weaknesses rather than excess demand. Monetary tightening, where the central bank has kept the policy rate at around 10 per cent for over a year, failed to fix broken supply chains.
Meanwhile, the country is facing import and banking bottlenecks. In 2025, Letters of Credit (LC) settlements declined by around 10 per cent, while new LC openings fell by more than 4 per cent.
Dollar uncertainty, banking liquidity stress, and shifting import rules made traders risk‑averse, reducing imports and concentrating pricing power among a few large importers and wholesalers.
Even when global commodity prices eased, domestic consumers saw little benefit because transport costs, weak logistics, middlemen margins, extortion, and firms’ expectations of future cost rises kept retail prices high, the report stressed.
There is also a situation where despite the country producing enough food “on paper”, a significant share never reaches consumers.
Quoting Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) figures, it added that post-harvest losses amount to nearly 21 million tonnes of food every year. “This is not a marginal inefficiency; it is a structural failure,” it said.
Additionally, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) data reveal the scale of loss after harvest being around 17.8 per cent of paddy and 17.6 per cent of wheat. For fruits and vegetables, losses range from 17 per cent to as high as 32 per cent, with mango losses alone reaching 31.7 per cent.
“Fisheries suffer average losses of 12.5 per cent due to poor icing and handling, with figures standing at about 8 per cent for milk, 13 per cent for eggs, and nearly 17 per cent for poultry,” the piece added.
It attributed inadequate storage and cold-chain facilities for wastage of perishable produce. According to World Food Programme (WFP) estimates, 25–40 per cent of fruits and vegetables, worth roughly USD 2.4 billion annually, rot before reaching consumers.
Thus, “food exists, but not where it is needed”.
Overall, the paradox now facing Bangladesh arises from a weak demand, constrained production, limited supply, where prices refuse to fall.
“Businesses price in future uncertainty. Consumers absorb the shock daily,” the piece added.
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