Price situation worrying
Long on talk, short on result
By all accounts, productivity, import, supply and availability of essential commodities have been reasonably steady. Yet, prices of a number of items, like, sugar, edible oil and gram are on a spiral. Prices of vegetables, including green chili, onion and cucumber, have shot up unusually. These are critical items for Ramadan.
It is important to note that such a pricey situation is set against denuding purchasing power of the consumers on account of persisting high rate of inflation. So erratic have been the prices that even middle and high-middle class groups find it difficult to afford a wholesome iftar. One can only imagine how hard hit are the lower income brackets.
It is welcome news that the government is planning to distribute rice, free of cost, weighing 10 kgs per family, to 66 lac destitute households under its Vulnerable Group Feeding (VGF) programme. But being ultra poor they are effectively outside the market mechanism. The question is what happens to millions of those who have to procure the daily provisions from the marketplace?
Despite repeated exhortation from various levels of government to keep prices affordable, followed by visit to markets by parliamentary body on the commerce ministry, nothing seems to be working as the market players are going their way. Profiteering is out of steps with the spirit of Ramadan. The latest assurances given by the businessmen to the Prime Minster to keep prices stable worked only for a few days and then it is back to square one.
In a free market economy, the forces of demand and supply should be allowed to operate unhindered. But when vested interests close to power have a sense of impunity in manipulating the market of key commodities, it is down to assertion of political will for the desired outcome.
Besides, Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) will have to play the role of a bigger market operator to strengthen the supply side by way of neutralising the market manipulators.
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