Sk Bashir Uddin, the commerce adviser, has informed the public, who are already burdened by unrelenting inflation, that the cost of necessities will not rise during the forthcoming month of Ramadan, which is scheduled to start in early March. During a policy conclave yesterday at a hotel in Dhaka with the title “Reasonable pricing of food items: Exploring market supervision strategies,” he stated, “Hopefully, there will be no shortages of items such as oil, sugar, chickpeas, and dates in the market.”
The nation’s import systems and inventories are sufficient to meet demand during the month of fasting, the commerce adviser reassured. “Prices in the local market should be reduced,” he remarked, alluding to the declining pricing of numerous products in the global market. I don’t see why they should ascend here.
According to Bashir, the administration wants the Competition Commission to be completely independent and free from ministerial intervention and anti-competitive behavior.
Professor Anu Muhammad stated during the event that a free market economy should have open information, a large number of buyers and sellers, and competition. But in practice, there is no competition and a small number of groups control the market. The government and the Competition Commission both have a role to play in this situation,” the economist continued. “We can make market prices more bearable by providing opportunities to both big businesses and small retailers,” stated Md. Abdur Rahim Khan, acting commerce secretary.
The commerce ministry will create an Input Development Fund to help with this, providing small business owners with low-interest loans to import everyday essentials. Khondaker Golam Moazzem, research director at the Centre for Policy Dialogue, claimed in his keynote address that the nation’s food market is autocratic as a result of little regulation. He went on to say, “We hope this autocracy will end,” during the event hosted by the business daily Bonik Barta. Moinul Islam Khan, the chairman of the Tariff Commission, stated: “Veggies are sold by farmers for Tk4, while customers pay Tk40. The cost rises to Tk10 by the time the vegetables arrive in Karwan Bazar. Many supply chain middlemen profit by at least 20% each, which puts a lot of strain on customers.
“We saw a 60% price increase for a medicine in just one month,” stated Mohammad Alim Akhtar Khan, director general of the Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection. If pharmaceutical corporations continue to disregard ethical principles, enforcement efforts will be futile. The vice president of the Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB), SM Nazir Hossain, claimed that unethical syndication is the reason why local prices rise in tandem with worldwide prices within a day. “Sometimes, we feel the real issue lies in the country’s governance,” he said.
“Traders hike prices when government warehouses’ rice stocks decline, as we saw. According to him, wheat prices are still high locally even though they are reduced globally. Prominent guests to the conclave, which was facilitated by Dewan Hanif Mahmud, editor of Bonik Barta, included Md. Abdur Rahman Khan, chairman of the National Broadcasting Corporation. Kazi Zahin Hasan, director of Kazi Farms, attributed the devaluation of the taka, which caused an economic crisis and a spike in food costs, to the bad policies of the previous administration.
The managing director of Shwapno, Sabbir Hasan Nasir, cautioned that any VAT hikes would cause customers to switch from supermarkets to retail markets, which are VAT-free. He clarified that although the VAT rate for supermarkets has increased from 5% to 7.5%, institutional firms are deterred by this. The Karwan Bazar No 2 Raw Materials Wholesale Market Cooperative Society’s acting president, Farid Ahmed Russell, emphasized the necessity of a rule requiring price receipts for each transaction.
“The government puts pressure on traders when prices rise, but storage owners often fail to provide proper price receipts,” he stated. The managing director of City Group, Muhammad Hasan, emphasized the importance of infrastructure development in order to guarantee affordable costs for customers. He argued that infrastructure upgrades are essential to cutting corporate expenses and questioned how fair rates can be established. Brigadier General Mohammad Faisal Azad, the chairman of the TCB, noted a gap between suppliers and customers while speaking at the ceremony. He pointed out that the lengthy supply chain presents operational difficulties and that TCB’s marketing initiatives are inadequate.
The Anti-Discrimination Student Movement’s spokesman, Umama Fatema, voiced worries about the past five to six months’ increase in the cost of necessities. “We need to look into why prices are rising in this way,” she said. To solve the nation’s issues, the government needs a sound and all-encompassing plan,” she stated. The National Citizens’ Committee’s chief organizer, Sarjis Alam, said that political decisions are necessary to regulate commodity prices and that attempts at price stabilization will not succeed in the absence of a strong political commitment. He pointed out that the same trends persisted across sectors and that the market stayed the same even after the Hasina government was overthrown.
He said he was optimistic about the interim administration and its capable advisory council, even though some people’s hopes had diminished. Alam criticized big businesses for enclosing themselves in their own domains by manipulating pricing in order to preserve their market domination. He called on these companies to cut back on their avarice and help lower inflation. Alam urged companies to embrace charitable activities in order to safeguard their legacy, pointing to successful worldwide models and expressing hope that Bangladesh will follow suit.
Source: The Business Standard
