Surprisingly the commerce minister has said unscrupulous traders are using the price hike of fuel as an excuse for increasing the prices of daily essentials. He criticised the traders though it is his responsibility to control the market and pull down the unbridled price hiking. Due to the increase in fuel price, he said rice price should increase by Tk 0.50 per kg but it has increased by Tk 4 per kg. The minister raised the question behind the logic of price hiking without enforcing market control mechanisms. The citizens pinched between rocks of inflation are enduring the most and are mocked as well by the ministers.
The embattling commerce minister, however, hoped of price control by October. When the global crude oil price is in the nadir, Bangladesh hiked it around 50 per cent recently, effecting higher inflation in a snowball manner. Globally edible oil prices are falling but our traders are asking to increase Tk 20 per liter for over-profiteering. The government virtually has no control over the market, while their blessed people control the market for making their fortune by squeesing people. A couple of ministers said the government has been trying to cool down the overheated prices of essentials in the wake of the record fuel price hike earlier this month, but practically their triumph is not reflected in the market.
Meanwhile, the finance minister said the government has decided to buy 1.25 crore litres of edible oil and 5,000 tonnes of lentils from local suppliers for sale at subsidised rates under the Family Card programme of the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh. We earlier saw many unscrupulous traders store subsidised commodities to sell at a higher rate and the politically influential people bar the system to reach poor people. The government’s apathy to the mass people’s sufferings, hunger, malnourishment, and challenge of standard living encourages dishonest traders to pickpocket the citizens.
