Dhaka: The general inflation in the country witnessed a slight rise for the third consecutive time in this fiscal as it reached 6.32 percenatge point in April, up from 6.27 in March.

‘The general point-to-point inflation rate in April rose to 6.32 percentage point,’ said Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal while releasing the monthly consumer price index at the NEC conference room in the city's Sher-e-Bangla Nagar area on Wednesday.

He said that the main reason for the slight increase in the inflation rate last month was due to the widespread observance of the Bengali new year Pahela Baishakh since the sale of Hilsa fish alongside new Baishakhi outfits were on the rise.

The Planning Minister said that earlier the celebration of Pahela Baishakh was confined only to big cities and towns, but now the Bengali New Year is being celebrated across the country, including rural areas, amid due festivity and fervour.

He also expressed her firm optimism that the general point to point inflation rate in this fiscal year would remain within 6.50 percentage point. ‘I can firmly say the inflation figures in this fiscal would not surpass 6.50 percentage point.’

The general inflation rate began in this fiscal year with 7.04 percentage point in last July that came down at 6.91 percentage point in August, 6.84 percentage point in September, 6.60 percentage point in October, 6.21 percentage point in November, 6.11 percentage point in last December and 6.04 percentage point in January. Then the general inflation rate started to rise in February with 6.14 percentage point and 6.27 percentage point in March.

Apart from the general inflation rate, the rate of food inflation also posted a rise while the non-food inflation witnessed a downward trend. The point-to-point food inflation at national level stood at 6.48 percentage point in April which was 6.37 percentage point in March while the non-food inflation came down to 6.08 percentage point in April, which was 6.12 percentage point in March.

Besides, the general point-to-point inflation rate at the urban level stood at 6.88 percentage point this April while it was 6.03 percentage point at rural level. At the rural level, the food inflation stood at 5.99 percentage point this April, up from 5.95 percentage point in the previous month, while the non-food inflation decreased to 6.09 percentage point in April as against 6.13 percentage point in March.

In urban areas, the food inflation stood at 7.62 percentage point in April, up from 7.36 percentage point. But, the non-food inflation rate witnessed a downward trend and it stood at 6.07 percentage point as against 6.11 percentage point in March.

The national wage index rate witnessed a 9.36% growth in April with 9169.76 point which was 9085.62 point in March. The average year to year rate of inflation from May 2014 to April 2015 stood at 6.56%, which was 7.48% from May 2013 to April 2014.