THE rising prices of essentials, driven by travel restrictions are making it difficult for middle and low-income people to make ends meet. The second wave of coronavirus and the countrywide lockdown have brought back last year’s trauma when businesses laid off employees, slashed salaries or simply closed for good. A recent study has revealed that 78.5 per cent of households did not recover from the hardships of the general holidays of last year and 80.6 per cent of those cut down on their food expenses. Amid income loss, over 5 per cent food inflation pushed the middle and low income people to compromise basic nutrition intake, medication, and education.
According to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), the average inflation rose to 5.47 per cent in March from 5.02 per cent in January this year. In March, food inflation increased by 0.62 percentage points to 5.51 per cent compared to January. On Monday, the Department of Agricultural Marketing fixed retail prices of some essentials including edible oil, sugar, and dates. The price of cucumber increased to Tk 140 at retail stores from Tk 40 a week before. Within the span of a week, the prices of brinjal, taro, teasle gourd, bitter gourd, string bean, lady’s finger, onion, pointed gourd and other essentials went up by Tk 5 to Tk 60 per kg. All this despite the DAM said that the country has an adequate supply of essential commodities and there is no reason for an unusual price hike during Ramzan.
A day before the lockdown, police introduced ‘movement passes’ for commuters. The cabinet division in a circular said transport of farm products, food, and food grains will not be restricted. But police in several intersections intercepted essential goods-laden trucks and reportedly collected bribe. Traders said the supply crunch for movement restrictions contributed to the spiral in the prices of essentials. Maintenance of the supply chain of kitchen items, constant market monitoring and punishments to market manipulators would be helpful in arresting the price hike. The huge demand and supply gap of essentials for over 2 crore residents of the capital cannot be bridged only by open market operations of the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh which deals in a few non-perishable items.
