Non-food inflation soared 6.30 per cent in January, the highest since December 2015, with people living in rural areas worst hit for the spiralling prices of goods and services other than food.

In December, non-food inflation, which encompass average prices of clothing and footwear to transport and communication, was 5.55 per cent.

This was the third month in a row non-food inflation has been creeping up, driven mainly by spike in healthcare expenses, transport, clothing and footwear and increased prices of various other goods and services.

The BBS data showed that average prices of rent, fuel and lighting rose 4 per cent in January from a month earlier, while healthcare costs edged up 2.30 per cent.

Overall inflation was however down: it was 5.57 per cent in January from 5.75 per cent in December, as per the basket of goods and services tracked by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS).

The downturn in the prices of food helped inflation decline last month.

Food inflation dropped to 5.12 per cent in January from 5.88 per cent in December, according to BBS's Consumer Prices Index (CPI), which reflects the average change over time in the prices of a specified set of final commodities and services.

In case of food prices, people in rural areas saw less spiral than those living in towns and cities.

Food inflation in urban areas dropped to 5.03 per cent in January from 5.73 per cent a month earlier. Rural residents saw a decline in food inflation by 96 basis points to 5.16 per cent, according to BBS.

The statistical agency calculates CPI based on the prices of 318 goods and services in rural areas and 422 commodities in urban areas. It computes the CPI at the national level by combining the urban and rural indices using weight factors.

With the inflation marking an upward trend in January, the overall growth of nominal wages was 6.56 per cent in January, which was higher than the rate of inflation of 5.57 per cent the same month.

This shows that the purchasing capacity of workers in general did not erode.

In January, wages in manufacturing and agriculture grew at a higher pace than inflation.

But the growth of nominal wages in fishing and construction sectors fell below the rate of inflation, meaning that real wages of workers in the two sectors fell as inflation rate exceeded the rise in their nominal wages, according to BBS's Wage Rate Index.