It is a tougher Ramzan this year

With unprecedented food inflation this year, Bangladesh’s Muslim community has started the holy month of fasting. In the country a class of people has grown for whom, even a situation of famine will not touch them, let alone the present high food inflation. For them everything is normal as usual. Still, there are people who even make money during this critical period of the economy thanks to the fact that the government itself has indulged in corruption or allowed certain people to become corrupt so that it can remain in power. The government just ignores their corrupt practices. Recently, the US ambassador in Bangladesh urged the government to contain corruption and in doing so his country offered to help the government which, however, did not show any enthusiasm about this help.

It is now almost half a year, the country went through this food inflation when the government, through a bureaucratic order, increased the fuel oil prices, followed by fertiliser, gas and electricity prices. Due to depleting dollar reserves, the government has imposed restrictions on import including consumables. The taka has greatly depreciated against the dollar.

The cumulative effect of all these has fallen in the market long ago with poor people starting passing hungry nights. Ironically, for them, the month of Ramzan has started much earlier.

In Bangladesh every year dishonest business people create an artificial crisis of consumables and this year also there is no exception. When the month of Ramzan was still about a couple of months away, Ramzan’s quota of price hike was introduced by them. But the government’s various controlling authorities started issuing warnings just a week before Ramzan when the markets had already seen the Ramzan price hike. Therefore, the end result of the government’s effort to control the price has been zero.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock starts selling beef at Tk 640 per kg, mutton at Tk 940 per kg, dressed broiler chicken at Tk 340 per kg, milk at Tk 80 per litre and eggs at Tk10 each in the capital through mobile sales centres. This is no relief for the consumers. Even this sale at reduced prices, which is not much, will be available at some 20 points in the capital with their limited amounts. What about the rest of the country? Most people, the past year’s experiences show, do not get these items as they get finished too early.

The present high food inflation as well as people’s reduced income has made this Ramzan very hard for them to observe. But the believers must not become frustrated about Allah’s mercy. He takes care of those who put their trust in Him.