'Awami League government’s actions helped to keep inflation within the 9% range'

Finance Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali has said they may need another six months to bring inflation under control and the government is taking adequate measures to address it. 

During the post-budget press briefing on Friday, he also said that the government’s inflation control measures led to a tighter proposed budget this year. 

He mentioned that the Awami League government’s actions helped to keep inflation within the 9% range. Inflation reached 10% in 2010 after the Awami League came to power, up from about 9% in 2009.

“However, in less than two years, the government was able to control inflation and was in the range of 5%-6% in the next decade.”

In the last several years, he continued, the worldwide foreign exchange problems, exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war, have caused inflation to rise. 

“We have taken all steps to control inflation and are considering what more we can do to curb it,” he said.