According to a recent Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) survey, the inflation in food items has reached up to 15 per cent in the country.
In this worrying situation, it is easy to guess how miserable the condition of poor and low income people can be.
On the other hand, a World Food Programme (WFP) report recently said that the cost of food for the population living below the poverty line has gone up by 58 per cent in 2024 compared to 2022.
The per capita cost was Tk 1,851 in 2022 which soared to Tk 2,923 last February.
The WFP data shows, some 17 percent of the people in Bangladesh were under food insecurity last February, which has increased by 2 percent than the previous month.
As much as 68 percent of the country’s population is trying to survive by reducing the cost of living.
In fact, people’s income has not increased in comparison to that. Then how do they meet this shortage? First of all, by reducing other household costs.
Some try to earn some extra money by making their children work instead of sending them to school.
Every year we hear claims of food grain production going up, while inflation in food stuffs has been soaring. What’s the mystery behind this?
There’s no shortage of food supply in the market, the lacking is in the purchasing power.
However, the government policymakers claim that the purchasing power of the people has increased.
But, that’s applicable to how many of them? The WFP report proves that there’s no balance between income and expenditure for the larger section of the population.
If peoples’ income has actually gone up as claimed by the government leaders, why are they buying less food than required?
Why do they need to eat away their savings or borrow money to buy food? Only 21 percent of the people being at risk of food insecurity are receiving aid and that’s not enough.
To get out of this situation, the government needs to strengthen market monitoring first, so that the players behind the curtain can be put on a leash
. In addition to this, the sale of daily necessities like rice, flour, and edible oil in the open market should be increased as well. This might provide a respite to the poor.