The latest United Nations report on inflation leaves no room for ambiguity: Bangladesh is experiencing the most severe inflation crisis in South Asia. Among seven regional countries, Bangladesh now stands at the bottom of the list, with inflation at 8.9% in 2025, far higher than its neighbours. By comparison, inflation remains at 2.7% in India and 0.6% in Sri Lanka.
Even more troubling, the situation shows no sign of meaningful improvement. According to the UNโs forecast, inflation in Bangladesh will remain at 7.1% in 2026, still higher than in every other country in the region. While neighbouring economies stabilise, Bangladesh continues to drift deeper into a cost-of-living crisis.
Inflation Is Destroying Household Stability
These figures represent more than macroeconomic indicatorsโthey reflect daily hardship for millions of Bangladeshi families. A household that spent Tk10,000 on monthly groceries a year ago now needs at least Tk15,000 to purchase the same items.
LP Gas Crisis: People slam Yunus for inefficiency in checking soaring prices
Golden Spectrum Scam: How Yunus is abusing power for personal financial gains
Teachers, salaried employees, day labourers, rickshaw pullers, and small traders are all struggling to cope with rising prices. Middle-class families are steadily lowering their living standards, while low-income households are barely managing to secure three meals a day. Inflation has become an invisible but relentless tax on survival.
Neighbouring Countries Recovered
What makes Bangladeshโs inflation crisis particularly alarming is the regional contrast. Sri Lanka and Pakistan, both of which endured devastating inflationary shocks in recent years, have now managed to regain control. Sri Lanka reduced inflation from 49% in 2021 to 0.6%, while Pakistan brought it down from 30% to around 4%.
Bangladesh, by contrast, has remained stuck above 8% for more than eighteen months. A country once known for relative economic stability now finds its population disoriented and economically exhausted.
Economic Mismanagement
Responsibility for this paralysis has become increasingly clear since the overthrow of the elected government in July 2024. Under the current interim administration, policy responses have failed to address the structural causes of inflation.
Bangladeshโs Economic Ascent: Sheikh Hasinaโs leadership helped surpass Pakistan
Yunusโ claims about Japan EPA inherited from Sheikh Hasina era
Rights body, Chittagong Port workers slam Yunus for leasing key terminals to foreigners
While interest rates were raised and tariffs on selected goods were reduced, these steps did not translate into sustained relief. Instead, inflation has started rising again over the past two months, signalling policy inconsistency and weak execution. This trend reflects not external shocks but administrative failure and economic mismanagement.
Bangladesh A Regional Outlier
The UNโs assessment effectively places Bangladesh in an embarrassing regional position. While India, Nepal, Bhutan, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka have all managed to bring inflation below 5%, Bangladesh remains isolated above 8%.
This divergence highlights not just economic weakness but institutional incapacity. The inability to stabilise prices has become a defining feature of the current governance structure.
Food Inflation Core Driver of Public Suffering
Economists emphasise that without controlling food inflation, public suffering will not ease. Food inflation stood close to 11% at the beginning of last year, dropped to 7.36% by December, and has since begun rising again.
World Bank report vindicates Sheikh Hasinaโs legacy amidst propaganda
Grameenโs Al-Qaeda ties and Yunusโ embrace of extremism and mobocracy
These fluctuations expose the absence of a coherent strategy. Policies are introduced without sufficient evaluation, then altered before their impact is measured. This lack of continuity ensures that inflation remains entrenched rather than contained.
Market Syndicates Control Prices
There is also no visible effort to dismantle market syndicates operating at the wholesale level. Certain trader groups continue to manipulate prices, while consumers absorb the shock. Farmers are forced to sell produce at low rates, only to see the same goods sold at inflated prices in urban markets.
These middlemen profit from systemic failure, draining household incomes daily, while enforcement remains weak or nonexistent.
Families Pushed Into Poverty
With incomes stagnant, every price increase erodes purchasing power. Salaried workers and teachers do not receive monthly pay raises, yet are compelled to spend more each week. In real terms, household income is shrinking.
Many families now rely on loans to survive. Some are withdrawing children from school; others are delaying or abandoning medical treatment. Inflation has become a silent engine of impoverishment.
Inflation Crisis A Verdict On Governance
The UN report functions as a report card on economic governance, and the verdict is unmistakable. Bangladesh has failed to control inflation, and the outlook for 2026 offers no meaningful hope. While neighbouring countries continue to improve, Bangladesh remains trapped in stagnation.
Despite access to high-profile advisers and even Nobel Prizeโwinning economists, those in power have failed to address the most basic economic concern of ordinary citizens: the ability to afford food. The UN has now documented this failure with evidence.
If this is not a national embarrassment, it is difficult to imagine what is.
By: albd
English 
Bengali