Law to be made more effective to rein in hoarding
Faruk Khan tells JS
Anti-hoarding law should be made more effective in order to control prices of essential commodities and to maintain stability in the market, said Commerce Minister Faruk Khan in parliament yesterday.
“Intelligence agencies are collecting market information each week so that hoarders cannot stockpile illegally to create artificial crisis of goods,” he said in response to lawmakers' queries.
The minister however, denied the existence of the much-hyped market syndicate which has been blamed for the instability in the market of essential goods.
Ruling Awami League lawmaker Nurul Islam said the minister himself had repeatedly blamed market syndicates for the price hike of essentials ahead of Ramadan and Eid-ul-Azha.
Lawmakers of both ruling AL and opposition BNP expressed their concern over the unprecedented price hike of essentials and enquired about the government measures to control it.
In response, the minister mentioned various measures taken by the government, including adequate supply of commodities in the market, strengthening the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh and increasing detective vigilance to control the market price of essentials.
“The government will remain vigilant so that a handful of unscrupulous traders cannot create crisis in the name of business,” he stated.
Regarding the bilateral free trade agreements (FTA), the commerce minister said preparation of policy guidelines of the FTA is at its final stage.
“Once the guideline has been finalised, discussion will take place among the countries to sign the FTA,” he said.
The minister said plans to set up new trade missions in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; Milan, Italy; Montreal, Canada; Tashkent, Uzbekistan and Agartala in India to increase exports are afoot.
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