Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said that the government has taken steps to control the prices of daily necessities and inflation during Ramadan.
He gave this information in response to the written question of Bhola-2 Constituency Member of Parliament Ali Azam in the National Parliament session on Wednesday (February 28). Speaker of the session. Shirin Sharmin Chowdhury presided.
The Prime Minister said that the present government is the people’s government. So the government is always trying to reduce the suffering of the people. For this purpose, the government has continued all kinds of activities to keep the prices of daily necessities normal. In the meantime, we have managed to contain the abnormal rise in consumer prices to a large extent. However, due to the increase in the prices of some products of the world market such as fuel oil, edible oil, wheat, fertilizers and various food and consumer goods and industrial raw materials, the pressure of import inflation is being felt in our country.
The government has taken steps to control inflation including controlling the prices of daily necessities during the month of Ramadan. The Prime Minister also said that the policy (repo) interest rate to control price inflation has been increased in stages from 4.75 percent to 8.00 percent. Besides, Reverse Repo Rate (SDF) has been increased to 6.50 percent. Besides, the upper limit of interest rate of loans has been removed. A significant increase in policy rates has led to a visible change in market-based average interest rates. Hopefully, inflation will come under control very soon. Besides, crawling peg based currency exchange policy is being adopted to stabilize the foreign currency exchange rate. This corridor-based system is expected to prevent abnormal fluctuations in foreign exchange rates. As a result, it will also help in controlling inflation.
The Prime Minister said that the daily market prices of agricultural products are being published on the website of the Directorate of Agricultural Marketing. He said, with the intention of keeping the price of goods within the purchasing power of the common people during the coming fast, the activities of adequate supply of daily commodities have been taken. Diplomatic initiatives have been taken to supply 100,000 tons of sugar and 50,000 tons of onions to the Indian government as one of the products. Sheikh Hasina said that steps have been taken to sell milk, meat and eggs at affordable prices at the mobile sales centers of the Directorate of Livestock at 25 spots in Dhaka city to meet the demand of animal meat for low-income people and to keep the product price affordable. Besides, orders have been given for quick release of edible oil, sugar, chickpeas, lentils and dates imported during the holy month of Ramadan. Apart from this, the head of government said that information is being collected about the commodity prices and stocking and supply situation by regularly visiting various wholesale and retail markets of Dhaka city. He also said that if any kind of unusual situation is seen, immediate legal action has been taken.
The Prime Minister said that the National Consumer Rights Protection Directorate is conducting market monitoring activities across the country including Dhaka metropolis to keep the prices of goods at a tolerable level. To keep the price of goods at a reasonable level, the task force formed in the district and upazila under the leadership of the district commissioner and upazila executive officers hold regular meetings. The task force takes necessary legal measures to control the market including conducting regular mobile courts in the market.
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