Wastage of foreign exchange

Imagine a mini bottle of fruit juice imported from Indonesia, thousands of miles away. If the retail price is Tk 10-12, then calculate the low export price and huge shipping cost for carrying 90 percent water in the juice, when import of fruit powder would have been more economical.

This sort of dumping is possible due to faulty import policies followed in Dhaka, without protective tariff, to minimise wastage of foreign exchange. Add large scale smuggling from the neighbouring countries, and the overall picture is dismal.

Why readymade furniture has to be imported by a country low down in the economic list? A large number of retail shops in the modern shopping centres in Dhaka do not stock local products ("No demand", is the pet answer). The secret of the purchasing power of luxury, and nonessential and expensive imported goods is suspected to be black money in the grey market. Ready made garments are also imported, as the labels indicate! What has happened to our anti-dumping laws?

The monitoring and regulatory bodies have no comments on these questionable trends in the local market. There is more than politics in good governance.