Staff Reporter :
Unusual price hike of essential commodities has severely affected the country’s cooked food suppliers, including hotel and restaurants.
Meanwhile, this sector has already been suffering from various problems like huge losses due to the ongoing Covid-19 for the last two years.
As a result, hotel-restaurant sector is still struggling to recover from the financial losses caused by the long closure for the pandemic.
Leaders of the Bangladesh Restaurant Owners Association (BROA) came up with the remarks while speaking at its 34th Central Executive Council meeting at the Institution of Diploma Engineers Bangladesh (IDEB) in the capital on Saturday.
They are at the verge of destruction for unusual rising in prices of commodities prices, said the BROA leaders.
Moreover, they said with the rise in prices of commodities, this sector has fallen into further deep crisis and many hotels and restaurants are again on the verge of closing due to losses. Speaking at the occasion, Imran Hasan, Secretary General of the BROA, said, “We are trying to recover from the losses that we had incurred during the deadly pandemic. But, now the unusual rise in commodity prices has brought us to an abrupt halt.” “We are counting losses by selling foods for the abnormal price hike of the essential goods and it makes us difficult to survive,” Hasan said.
“To overcome this situation, we urge the government to provide essential goods through the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB),” he said.
The owners of the catering houses haven’t yet increased food prices, although the commodities prices, wages and other costs have gone up several times, the BROA leader said.
“In the meantime, we have information that the government is planning to increase prices of gas and other utility services. No way but to become loser everything for us, if the prices of gas and water increase at this moment,” Hasan said.
He further alleged that even in this situation they are being persecuted in the name of mobile courts.
“You (government) know, we run our businesses by completely unskilled workers. You should provide training for the workers first on how to produce hundred percent safe foods,” Hasan said.
He also demanded reduction in Value-Added Tax (VAT) on sales of all hotels and restaurants to 3 per cent in the upcoming fiscal 2022-23.
Now it is 10 per cent on air-conditioned restaurants and 7.5 per cent on non-air-conditioned restaurants.
BROA President Osman Gani, Vice-Presidents Shah Sultan Khokon and M Rezaul Karim, Chief Adviser Ruhul Amin Khandaker, Senior Joint Secretary General Firoz Alam Sumon and Organizing Secretary Syed Mohammad Andalib, among others, were present at the meeting.
