Bangladesh’s food items more expensive than developing or developed countries

It is surprising that many essential food items are more expensive in Bangladesh than in other developing or developed countries. The recent sharp swings in energy costs have made matters further worse in the country. And that price hike is not only in imported products, but also our internally produced products as well, says CPD.
The Centre for Policy Dialogue came up with the remarks during their annual “CPD’s Recommendations for the National Budget FY2023-24” at a programme in Dhaka on Monday. Whilst inflationary pressures had been growing in Bangladesh prior to the Russia-Ukraine war, the international crisis provided an excuse. The commodity prices that had previously climbed in the international market have now reduced, but this has had little effect on the local market.
Broadly speaking, food price hike adversely affects two groups of the population: fixed-income earners and low-income earners. The low-income families who have already been experiencing a curtailing of their purchasing capacity because of high fuel prices cannot afford living costs because of the persistent rise in food price. This has forced a section of the population to fall below the poverty line.
According to the think tank, rice, sugar and soybean oil are more expensive here than even the industrialised world, An example is that beef which we do not import is also much higher than the international market. Taking advantage of any crisis, the prices of essential goods are increased randomly by fraudulent traders. Besides, many of the essential goods that we import have high taxes, and a reduction in tax can provide some relief to the people. There are at least 28 imported essential food items, including rice, sugar and soybean oil, that are more expensive here than the global market.
For this, the CPD highlighted several disquieting developments such as negative growth in revenue mobilisation, slow implementation of the development projects, increased reliance on bank borrowing for deficit financing, skyrocketing prices of essentials, declining liquidity situation of banks, deteriorating external sector balance, and the state foreign exchange reserves. It is more likely that the IMF’s conditions to generate Tk 3,456.5 billion in FY23 as tax revenue would remain unmet, adds the think tank.
Enforcement of regulatory measures to control food prices should now be the topmost priority. The rise of prices of essentials in the domestic market often has no connection with the international market. Therefore, a consistent monitoring system needs to be in place to check and address that. Finally, estimation of demand and timely import under strict vigilance, and distribution management are needed to control food prices.