Editorial
The inflationary pressure
Expand distribution network
Unlike in the previous years, the just presented budget did not affect prices in the market except those of sugar and edible oil, which had been on an upward curve before the budget.
The opposition-enforced 36-hour hartal has left its adverse impact on food prices, especially vegetables and fish. Obviously, it was the dislocation in transport movement that caused this price hike. But what is of concern is that given the capricious price regime, price hike of any food item has the propensity to have a knock-on effect on other food items. Other contributing factors to price hike including rise in the fuel prices have pushed the fares of land and water transportation upwards. So, this is another depressing signal for the food price market.
Despite the budget's not raising the inflationary expectations, there are cogent reasons for worry for the general consumers on the longer term.
The Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) data as reflected in the budget show that the overall inflationary trend has risen from 10.49 per cent in March 2011 to 10.67 per cent in April, 2011.
Admittedly, food-related inflation had its contribution to the overall inflationary trend. And in the rural areas where the largest swathe of the population and the majority of the poor live, the food-induced inflation was at its highest at 15.38 per cent in April. This is around 3.34 per cent more than what was in the urban areas in the same period.
This calls for adopting concrete and failsafe measures from the government to protect the general consumers as well as the poor from the shock of unrelenting volatility in the food market. The consumers and growers of the food items are equally at the mercy of the middlemen or farias, the wholesalers and retailers alike.
So, the government should further expand and strengthen its distribution networks to supply food grains, build more storing facilities for food grains and continue with the operation of Open Marker Sale (OMS) of food grains and other essentials. If the government is able to effectively countervail the tyranny of the market manipulators with these and other innovative measures, rather than interfering with the market forces then stability in the food price market will finally be restored.
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