The Center for Policy Dialogue (CPD), a private think-tank, has found no good news for lower and middle-income groups in the newly announced budget, voicing doubt about government’s ability to lower the inflation rate at 5.6 per cent. Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal placed the budget for FY2022-23 expecting inflation rate to come down to 5.6 per from over 6.29 per cent (in April as per BBS). Also read: Budget to make economy stronger: Finance Minister Experts and economists believe the inflation has hit over 10 per cent. As a result, lower, middle class and fixed income groups will face challenges to run a family as the commodity prices are unlikely to come down if the inflation trend remains higher. The CPD made the observation at a press conference in a city hotel on Friday, a day after presentation of Bangladesh’s national budget of Tk6.78 trillion for the upcoming fiscal year starting from July 1. “The prices of all kinds of goods including fuel oil and food products are increasing in the international market. Commodity prices have been rising in the world market since the Covid-19 situation began to normalize,” said Dr Fahmida Khatun, executive director of CPD. She said, "The budget has not taken adequate steps to reduce the prices of essential commodities. It was necessary to reduce the prices of 29 commodities including rice and pulses, but it did not happen. The CPD had recommended a reduction in taxes to reduce the prices of commodities. But that too was not kept.