Staff Reporter :
The cost of living in the Dhaka city marked a rise by 8.44 percent in 2017 due to price hike of daily essentials, rice, house rent, electricity egetables and gas, according to Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB).
CAB President Golam Rahman said it in a press briefing at the Dhaka Reporter’s Unity (DRU) on Tuesday morning on the occasion of publishing their year end report on the cost of the living and the market prices.
Golam Rahman claimed that cost of living rose by 8.44 percent while the prices of essentials and utility services increased by 7.17 percent.
The latest spike is higher than that in 2016 witnessing rise by 6.47 percent and cost of utility services by 5.81 percent respectively.
The consumers’ representative body said it had not included expenses on education, health and transports in its estimate.
Last year, Golam Rahman said that onion prices posted a 40.99 percent rise, while rice price by 20.40 percent, vegetables by 24.72 percent, liquid milk by 20.36 percent and beef by 19.28 percent.
In the services sector, he said, gas price marked a rise by 6.44 percent, water (per liter) five percent and house rent 8.14 percent. The CAB prepared the report by collecting price data from 15 markets in Dhaka on 114 food items and 22 products for daily usage. It also took into account the cost of 14 services including gas, electricity and water to prepare the report.
They also placed a 10-point recommendation to cut down the high cost of living.
The recommendations included formation of a separate department of ‘Supply and Price’ under Commerce Ministry to control the prices of daily essentials, reforming the House Rent Act 1991 and forming a House Rent Commission.
