Bangladesh's inflation leaped to 8. 28 percent in December 2010 due to soaring food costs, official figures showed Sunday.
According to data released by Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics ( BBS), the inflation rate went up from November's 7.54 percent to 8. 28 percent in December.
The BBS data showed that the country's food prices grew at 11. 01 percent in December from 9.80 percent in November.
Price hike of food items particularly staple rice is a key concern for the South Asian country's government as nearly 40 percent of its over 150 million people live on less than one U.S. dollar a day and spend 70 percent of their income on food purchase.
In case of non-food items the rate of inflation, however, declined to 3.27 percent in December 2010 from 3.33 percent in November, the BBS data showed.
The average inflation rate in Bangladesh during the 12 months of the last 2009-10 fiscal year reached 7.31 percent although the country's government wanted to keep it within 6.5 percent.
Bangladesh's inflation rate recorded over 11 percent in November 2007, a 17-year high, due to shortage of food grain supply after two rounds of devastating floods and a super cyclone Sidr hit the country./.