United News of Bangladesh

Commerce, Industry and Textile and Jute Minister Khandaker Abdul Muktadir on Thursday said the government has adequate food stocks to keep the market stable during the upcoming month of Ramadan. He said one of the key responsibilities of the Ministry of Commerce is to keep prices of essential commodities stable, and this duty becomes more important during Ramadan. “Although there was no time to take special steps after assuming office, the existing stock situation is positive and sufficient to maintain price stability,” he added. The minister made the remarks while replying to journalists after exchanging greetings with officials of different government departments and party leaders at Osmani International Airport. Responding to a question on development plans for Sylhet, he said he had highlighted these plans during his long election campaign and in the election manifesto. He said the he wants to work on issues directly linked to improving the living standards of people in Sylhet. He said priority will be given to job creation, expansion of IT-related professions and the establishment of an AI centre in the region. The minister said Bangladesh must build capacity to compete globally. Over the next five years, the government will use every day effectively to move the country forward in the global arena with sincerity. Replying to a question on job creation at the Sylhet IT park, he said investment is essential to create employment. He said special policy support is needed for expatriate and local investors in Sylhet, adding that work is underway and visible progress will be seen soon. Among others, Sylhet-3 MP MA Malek, Divisional Commissioner Khan Md Reza-un-Nabi, Range DIG Md Mushfekur Rahman, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Abdul Quddus Chowdhury, Deputy Commissioner Md Sarwar Alam, the acting president of Sylhet Metropolitan BNP, and other party leaders were present at the time.

The government is contemplating ways to bringing down the prices of essential commodities that have gone beyond the reach of commoners following the fuel oil price hike. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said this on Tuesday while speaking at the regular meeting of the Executive Committee of National Economic Council (ECNEC) at NEC, joining virtually from her official residence Ganabhaban. “I think that it is important now to bring down the prices of the essentials at a tolerable level and within the purchasing power of the common people,” she said. She mentioned about the government’s move to sell rice among 50 lakh families at the rate of Tk 15 per kg. “We will provide special family cards to one crore people by which they will be able to procure essential commodities at fair price, we are taking the steps,” she said. Hasina said that she thinks that the government has to take some more steps to save the low-and-middle income groups from sufferings due to the recent price hike. She again said that she is aware that due to the fuel oil price hike the prices of essential commodities have increased. “People are suffering, lower-income group, middle-income group and fixed income group are facing severe hurdles. We can realise that,” she said. In this connection, she mentioned that she does her politics for the people and whenever people suffer, she also feels the pain. The prime minister reiterated her call to increase the domestic production to lessen the dependency on imports. She said that Russia-Ukraine war, sanctions and counter-sanctions resulted in soaring prices of various items in the global market. “We had the ability to purchase, but the prices went up even beyond the reach of our purchasing capacity,” she said. She mentioned that such uncertainty coupled with various conspiracies had always struck Bangladesh whenever it started moving forward and improve the living standards of the people. The PM said that prices of fuel shot up alarmingly and her government has been providing subsidy to make it affordable. “We tried to reduce the expenditure through austerity, but the demand of the fuel oil was the same. That means the fuel oil were being smuggled out,” she said. She said that it is very much normal in the world to adjust the fuel prices comparing with the neighbouring countries to prevent smuggling. “We also took that initiative and we have to increase the fuel oil price,” she said. Hasina asked the ministers and public servants to consider ways on how to minimise the pains of people due to price spiral. “I will sit very soon to find out the ways for the mass people,” she said. The premier said that the government wants to buy fuel oil, fertiliser and wheat from Russia. Read: PM Hasina acknowledges public sufferings from fuel price hike, power cuts