Govt to take action to keep essentials stable during Ramzan

Staff Reporter :
Country’s overwhelming population is bearing the brunt of high prices of daily essentials especially edible oil, sugar and rice due to the volatile market intensified by the global economic crisis.
The government has been assuring that the market will be stable as there is no scarcity of food, but people say that they are hardly coping with the price hike as their income is failing to meet the growing demands of the essential items.
Amid such a situation, the month of Ramadan is approaching and during that time the prices of all essential items generally rise exorbitantly despite the government’s promises to keep them stable.
Keeping Ramadan in mind, the Commerce
Ministry has started taking the initiatives to keep prices and supply chain of the essential items stable during Ramadan.
Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi in a meeting at the Secretariat on Sunday said that all measures would be taken to ensure fair prices of necessary items with the assistance of a coordination cell.
He also cautioned that anyone who would sell at higher prices more than the government fixed prices would be sent to jail.
“The government has taken all kinds of steps to keep the supply chain and prices of sugar stable. The sugar production will be increased when the gas supply will become normal. There will be no other problem then,” he added.
The minister further said that the government was trying to reduce the sugar price by lowering the ceiling of taxes on the item and supply chain uninterrupted.
“We will ensure fair prices of essential items including sugar in the upcoming month of Ramadan by taking necessary measures,” he asserted.
In reply to a query that the government rated sugar price is not being implemented, Tipu Munshi said, “The businessmen are not angels. When we fix the price, it is tampered in some places. As per the documents, there is huge amount of sugar in stock and in the pipeline.”
Replying to another question, he said, “The Directorate of National Consumers Rights Protection has been carrying out regular drives and fines. Now we are thinking if necessary, responsible persons will be sent to jail.”
With a note of assurance, the minister said, “The sugar price will decrease. We have told the National Board of Revenue to reduce the duty on sugar a little bit because it can reduce the sugar price. We have more sugar in storage than in previous years.”
He also said that the sugar import was open so that the item can be imported.
“We have a huge amount of sugar in storage. We are doing everything to keep the sugar price low within people’s purchasing capacity. We have stopped 100 LCs for exorbitant prices,” he added.
Regarding the crisis of opening Letter of Credits (LCs), Tipu Munshi said, “All things will not be changed overnight ahead of Ramadan. We are doing our best so that people can get daily essentials at a fair price round the year including the Ramadan. There will be no problem in opening LCs. Bangladesh Bank is taking special measures in this regard.”
He also said that a proposal has been placed to reduce import duty on Sunflower and Canola edible oil in a bid to increase their import.
Regarding the export trade, the Commerce Minister said, “The export trade is increasing in the country. In the current year the export target has been fixed at $67 billion both in products and services. The RMG sector made a record last month. If the export trend continues, it will cross the target. The remittance flow is also in the rising trend.”
He said that the country’s economy and trade and commerce were on the path of rising and everyone should be aware of any disinformation.