A bolstered Competition Commission can initiate inquiries into alleged syndicates and cartels either on its own or based on complaints, thus keeping the market in check.

Concerted actions are crucial to rein in the surging prices of essentials.

Another round of price hikes of essential items, more misery for ordinary people

This did not happen by chance, but because of poor governance

Riazul Haque, manager of a wholesale rice shop in the capital’s Mirpur, usually goes to Kachukhet kitchen market with Tk 500 every Friday.

The sale of essentials at subsidised prices under the OMS programme has been halted in Lalmonirhat and Kurigram since Thursday, putting several thousand poor families in distress.

The government has set a 5.6 per cent inflation target in the proposed budget for the 2022-23 fiscal year although the prices of essentials and other commodities are persisting at higher levels.

Central banks around the world have commenced hiking policy rates in order to contain the inflationary pressure stemming from the ongoing global supply chain disruption and demand recovery.

More than 11 years ago, the government issued an order for the trade of essential commodities, aimed at controlling their prices and curbing price manipulation by unscrupulous businesses through hoarding and other unfair means.

The prices of fine rice have gone up in the capital’s wholesale and retail markets, aggravating the suffering of the people from middle-income families who are already struggling to meet their household expenses due to spiraling prices of essentials, including edible oil and lentil.

While the government is banking on a good harvest of Boro paddy to bolster its grain stock, experts fear a sole focus on local production may not help ensure the country’s food security in the foreseeable future.  

Every year we are promised by the relevant ministry that prices of essentials will be kept within reach during the holy month of Ramadan. Since, that promise is hardly ever kept people have stopped expecting anything in this regard. The ministry of commerce had a meeting of traders, law enforcement and officials from the various government agencies and departments along with importers and traders on April 1 to better gauge what stocks should be

Regular as clockwork, prices of essentials started to rise well before the month of holy Ramadan.

It is a trend that appears to be predictable but devoid of all logic – the spiraling of prices of essentials just before Ramadan.

Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) mayor warns of legal measures against the businessmen who would not follow the city corporation-determined price list while selling essentials this Ramadan.