Bangladesh's overall inflation in August this year slightly eased compared to the previous month and stood at 5.37 percent, a minister said here Tuesday.

Unveiling the inflation data, Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal told journalists at a press conference that the overall inflation, which stood at 5.4 percent in July, eased further in August as prices of food items slowed in the recent months.

Price hike of food items particularly staple rice is a key concern for the Bangladeshi government as nearly 31.5 percent of its around 160 million people still live below the national poverty line and spend a large part of their incomes on food purchase.

The Bangladesh Bureau Statistics (BBS) data showed the country's food inflation in August dipped to 4.3 percent from 4.35 percent in July.

But Bangladesh's non-food inflation was 7.99 percent in August this year against 7.98 percent in July, it showed.

Bangladesh's inflation during the 12 months of the last 2015-16 fiscal year (July 2015-June 2016) eased to 5.92 percent.

The country's average inflation rate in the previous the 2014-15 fiscal year (July 2014-June 2015) reached 6.35 percent.

Source : XINHUA