Planning Minister MA Mannan today (September 6, 2022) said that prices of essentials have to be kept within the purchasing capacity of lower income groups. He said this at ‘Development Dialogue' organized by the Development Journalists Forum of Bangladesh (DJFB) at the NEC conference hall in Dhaka. The minister said due to Russia-Ukraine war, food and energy prices have shot up globally and the main challenge for the economy now is to maintain social stability. Read: Economy moving to comfortable zone as inflation eases: Planning minister The planning minister said, “I will be happy if dollar price does not cross Tk 100.” Replying to a query, Mannan said, “Corruption is visible in society. Many efforts continue to reduce corruption in the government projects. Once the project is approved, the responsibility of implementation goes to the executive department. So I can’t do much even if I want to.” However, corruption has reduced somewhat due to various initiatives of the government, the minister said. Read How the record hike in fuel prices manifested in Dhaka’s kitchen markets

Mentioning that around 46 percent people are deprived of social safety allowance, senior secretary and member of the General Economics Division (GED) of the Bangladesh Planning Commission Dr Shamsul Alam on Sunday hoped that all the poor people would come under social safety programmes soon.

Planning minister MA Mannan on Thursday said the government would ensure safe water, hygiene and sanitation for all the countrymen to achieve sustainable development goals (SDGs) by 2030.