Bangladesh is now trying to buy rice from Thailand and India under the government-to-government arrangement, weeks after striking a G2G deal to import the staple from Vietnam.

Rice import by the private sector has dropped to a four-year low at a time when its prices have shot up in the domestic market. Traders imported only 1.2 lakh tonnes of rice till mid-June in the current fiscal year against 2.56 lakh tonnes in the previous fiscal year.

Bangladesh Bank yesterday took two major steps to stabilise rice prices and increase its supply in the local market.