Cost of living increases 6pc in 2018: CAB

Monirul Alam of DOT
The cost of living in Bangladesh increased by 6 percent in the calendar year 2018 compared to the previous year, said Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB) yesterday.
CAB said it has monitored and analysed prices of foodstuffs, daily essentials, services and house rent in the city and other urban cities and got 6 percent rise in living cost. It, however, said that the analysis excludes the cost of healthcare, education and basic transports requirement.
“Rising living cost is impacting adversely the life of low and limit-income groups of people,” said CAB president Ghulam Rahman while speaking at a press conference at Dhaka Reporters Unity on Saturday.
According to CAB, house rent (Two-rooms) increased by 5.5 percent. Price of soap, the most important daily essential, went up by 20 percent. Besides, prices went up all varieties of rice by 8.91 percent, fishes 13.50 percent and vegetables 9.38 percent, liquid milk in packets 10.33 percent, eggs 7.71 percent, tea leaf 8.89 percent and meat 3.37 percent.
CAB advisor M Samsul Alam and its general secretary Humayun Kabir Bhuiyan were present, among others.