Monthly expenditure of a family in Dhaka stands at Tk 22,664: CPD

A family of four has to spend Tk 22,664 for food per month in Dhaka city and the cost, however, will decrease to Tk 7,131 if the fish and meat are not consumed. It was an estimated cost of February.

The Center for Policy Dialogue (CPD) came up with these findings on Monday at a budget-proposal related press conference at its office in Dhanmondi.  

The CPD has made the estimation based on the daily market price of 17 essential commodities, including fish, meat, dal (lentil), oil, chili, tamarind, ginger and garlic, and the average consumption of people.

Now, a middle class family has to spend 60 per cent of their income on purchasing food.

According to the CPD, each family had to spend Tk 18,115 per month to buy food in 2022 while the cost without the consumption of fish and meat stood at Tk 5,688.

According to that the food cost has increased by 25 per cent per family in 2023.

CPD executive director Fahmida Khatun presented a keynote paper in the conference with research director Khondaker Golam Moazzem and researcher Towfiqul Islam Khan as speakers.

Khondaker Golam Moazzem said poor and lower income people are struggling to manage food. The government should increase the salary in the private sector by five per cent. If possible, the salary and the allowances could be raised from this Eid-Ul-Fitr.

The prices of daily necessities in the market increased by big margins in the last few months that put immense pressure on the poor. As per latest chart, broilers are sold at Tk 220 to Tk 230 per kg, beef Tk 750 to Tk 800 per kg, eggs for Tk 130 to Tk 145 per dozen with the sudden increase of fish price.