Inflation was previously at eight or nine percent but now it is showing more because there is no 'manipulation', said Finance Advisor Dr. Salehuddin Ahmed pointing out that BBS has been told to publish real data as it is.
Since there is no manipulation, he said real inflation has moved up from eight or nine percent. He made the observation at the publication ceremony of the sixth edition of the 'Banking Almanac' at the CIRDAP auditorium in the capital on Saturday (December 21).
Stating that he has to 'face various questions from foreign investors' on data outages of the past 15 years, the finance advisor said. I can feel... what the last 15 years have been through. He also commented there are some unintentional mistakes behind data outage on inflation and policymakers had also tried to hide information.
Despite repeated interest rate increases to rein in inflation, the benefits are not reaching the daily commodities market; the inflation increased further to 11.38 percent in November. The previous month, this rate was 10.87 percent.
That means product or service costing Tk 100 in November 2023, had to be purchased for Tk 111.38 in November this year.
Regarding data outage, the finance advisor said, there were various outages with data in last 15 years as attempts were made to hide information.
We are trying to change and reform the process. Donor agencies ask us various questions; they want to explain it was less before. In this regard, we are explaining to them the previous data was hidden; we are presenting the correct one.
He said banking and financial sector were also affected by manipulation like the capital market and a procession occurred recently to remove the chairman because the share price of the capital market is falling.
Finance Secretary Md. Khairuzzaman and Bangladesh Bank Deputy Governor Nurun Nahar were special guests at the event organized under the chairmanship of Banking Almanac Chairman and former caretaker government advisor Hossain Zillur Rahman.
Bangladesh Association of Banks (BAB) Chairman and Dhaka Bank Chairman Abdul Hai Sarker, former Association of Banker Bangladesh (ABB) Chairman Nurul Amin, Executive Director of the book Syed Zia Uddin Ahmed, Abder Rahman and others spoke.
Finance Secretary Dr. Khairuzzaman Majumder said, "We are trying to bring back the sectors. We want the cooperation of development partners to bring back discipline in the financial sector. So that there is no chaos. We have already made changes in various boards."
