Originally posted in New Age on 31 May 2022
Major essentials 30-62pc costlier in one year
Consumers reel from non-stop price spiral, govt urged to be people-friendly
The prices of major essential commodities have increased by 30–62 per cent over the past one year, causing consumers to reel from the non-stop price spiral after being hit by income losses due to Covid-19.
According to an economist, the ever-increasing profit motive of businesses and traders, in addition to the international market volatility, have also sent prices of daily essentials shooting up on the local market.
The majority people in the country have, meanwhile, been forced to curtail their food intake, medical expenses and expenditure for children’s education as their real income has gone down due to high inflation, an economist noted.
Another economist blamed the lack of proper government monitoring for the uncontrolled commodity market.
According to state-owned Trading Corporation of Bangladesh, the price of atta has increased by 45 per cent in the past one year and the item retailed at Tk 42–50 a kg on Tuesday while the price of refined atta has gone up by 62.67 per cent and sold for Tk 60–68 a kg on the day.
But, in reality, the price of atta is higher than the price showed by the TCB as food processing companies are charging Tk 115 for a two-kg pack of atta.
The TCB data show that the price of soya bean oil has increased by up to 45.88 per cent to Tk 190–200 a litre over the period but the item actually sold for Tk 200–210 a litre in the city on Tuesday.
The price of palm oil, as per government data, has risen by 51.71 per cent to Tk 172–180 a litre in the past one year but the commodity sold for Tk 180–190 a litre on the day.
The price of rice has registered a Tk 6-8 increase per kg in the city over the past two weeks even in the harvest season of boro.
While the government says that the price of rice has gone up by 6 per cent in the past one year, with the fine variety of the staple selling for Tk 60–70 a kg, actually the fine-variety miniket is selling for Tk 65 –68 a kg and the premium-quality item for Tk 70–75 a kg.
The fine-variety Najirshail retailed at Tk 80 a kg and the premium quality at up to Tk 85 a kg in the capital on Tuesday.
According to the TCB, the price of red lentil has increased by 43 per cent in the past one year and the item is selling for Tk 110–130 a kg while garlic price has increased by up to 41 per cent to Tk 120–190 a kg over the period.
The price of eggs has gone up by 32 per cent to Tk 42 a hali (four pieces) while the price of beef has increased by nearly 13 per cent to Tk 680 a kg, the government data show.
In fact, these items, too, have been selling at significantly higher prices in the city for quite some time.
The cabinet on Monday ordered actions against unauthorised rice trading and hoarding without delay in a move to contain the rocketing price of the staple.
Chairing the weekly cabinet meeting at her Tejgaon office in the capital, prime minister Sheikh Hasina asked the ministries of food, commerce and agriculture for carrying out a rice market survey to find the reasons for the increase in rice price during the harvest period.
Abdul Matin, a rickshaw puller in the capital, who hails from Dimla upazila of Nilphamari district, on Tuesday said, ‘We are struggling to survive as our daily expenses have shot up by almost 50 per cent while our income has remained unchanged.’
He said that a plate of rice with an egg, as breakfast, cost Tk 25 even six months ago but he had to pay at least Tk 40 for the same dish now.
‘These days, I am forced to skip eggs and I take my rice with only mashed potato and lentil soup,’ he said.
Jahangirnagar University economics professor Anu Muhammad said that the income the majority people of the country earned was not enough for two square meals and the fresh inflation would force them to cut their food intake once again.
The prices of essential commodities, he said, are higher on the local market compared with the international market as the government monitoring system does not work.
Anu Muhammad said that low-income people would have to increase their working hours, eating less than before, to maintain their families while many would further slash their medical expenses and the spending on children’s education.
‘Though the government claims that the economy of the country is a market economy, the fundamental principles of market economy are not allowed to work here,’ the economist said.
He termed the commodity market in Bangladesh as an oligopoly, a market marked by limited competition because there are a small number of businesses who control the market for more and more profit.
Md Nurul Islam, a security guard serving a business establishment at Dhanmondi in the city, said that he had shifted his wife and two children to their village home in Mymensingh due to the increasing living cost.
In order to augment his income he has recently started selling tea after his eight-hour office duty.
‘Well, the prices of soya bean oil and red lentil have gone up as the prices have increased on the international market. My question is why has the price of rice been increasing in the boro harvest season? Why should the prices of locally produced eggs, garlic and beef rise abnormally?’ Nurul said.
Consumers Association of Bangladesh president Ghulam Rahman said that the sufferings of people were mounting due to the price spiral of essential commodities as their income was not increasing.
While ministers of the government are quick to point out good GDP growth and rising per capita income, they are not mentioning the growing inequality, he said.
Ghulam Rahman, also a former commerce secretary, said that the time had come for the government to become ‘people-friendly’ instead of becoming ‘business-friendly’.
Khondaker Golam Moazzem, research director of the Centre for Policy Dialogue, said that global uncertainties, devaluation of Taka against the dollar and hoarding of commodities by a section of traders were the reasons for the increase in commodity prices.
Echoing Anu Muhammad, the CPD research director, too, said that low- and fixed-income people were being forced to compromise on nutrition in dealing with the blow of inflation.
Moazzem said that the government would have to ensure minimum food security for the poor and fixed-income people as they had long been reeling from the economic impact of Covid-19.
The government, he suggested, should re-estimate the production of and the demand for rice in the country and carry out effective market monitoring.
Moazzem viewed that the consumption of rice was growing in the country as the opportunity for consuming other foods is shrinking due to the high prices.