Dhaka: The general inflation rate in the country has eased to 5.37 percent in August, the lowest in more than 10 years, due mainly to the lowering trend for the last couple of months and slight downtrend in food inflation.

Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal said this on Tuesday while releasing the monthly consumer price index (CPI) after the ECNEC meeting.

The general point-to-point inflation rate that is the percentage change in the CPI during the last 12 months was 5.40 percent in July, 5.45 percent in May, 5.61 percent in April, 5.65 percent in March and 5.62 percent in February.

According to data provided by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), the food inflation, which tends to be more important in developing countries like Bangladesh where a large amount of household incomes is spent on food, slightly declined to 4.30 percentage point in August from 4.35 percentage point in July.

According to the BBS, the average general inflation rate in the last fiscal year was 5.92 percent, which was 6.41 percent in fiscal year 2014-15, 7.35 percent in fiscal year 2013-14, and 6.78 percent in fiscal year 2012-13.

The BBS data showed the food inflation rate, however, slightly increased to 7.00 percent in August 2016, up from 6.98 percent in July 2016.

Besides, the general inflation rate at the urban level in August increased to 7.15 percent while it was 4.41 percent at the rural level.

At the rural level, the food inflation declined to 3.40 percent in August, down from 3.59 percent in the previous month, while the non-food inflation increased to 6.28 percent in August as against 6.26 percent in July this year.

In urban areas, the food inflation also increased to 6.39 percent in August, up from 6.11 percent in July. The non-food inflation rate also witnessed increasing trend with 7.99 percent in August which was 7.98 percent in July this year.

The national wage index, however, witnessed a declining trend with 6.06 percent in August down from 6.13 percent in July.

The average year-to-year rate of inflation from September 2015 to August 2016 also declined to 5.77 percent, which was 6.13 percent from September 2014 to August 2015.