No price rise during Ramadan!

The customary assurance from the concerned quarters that price of commodities most sought after during the holy month of Ramadan will remain stable is already there. But reports have it that a number of items such as gram or chick pea, onion and a few spices have already registered a price rise by Tk 10-15 a kilogram. Business leaders, mostly the importers and wholesalers, have made it clear that they have no less than one and half time of all favourite items in their stock. So, there is no valid reason for price rise of any such item during the holy month. The commerce minister also has sounded a warning on any possible attempt for price manipulation. Now, all this should have made peoples in many parts of the world confident that things will be as they are promised but not in this country. If this happens, it will be nothing less of a miracle.

Promises are made, warnings are issued year after year and still prices of a few items continue to escalate until they are propelled to astronomical high. That the whole exercise is nothing but market manipulation becomes crystal clear from the fact that the exorbitant prices have nothing to do with demand and supply. Why have gram and other items suddenly become costlier about a month or so before? Some people procure a few such items early to avoid price hike but this does not leave such an impact where a crisis of those in the market is felt. This time big importers have made their pious protestation in the name of religion not to exploit the common people. If they go by their words, it will be a most positive development in the country's domestic trade.

However, wholesalers are not the only players in the market. There are middlemen and retailers who can disrupt market mechanism by hoarding or adopting other manipulative practices. The festival time here is used as an opportunity for making the most of it. Traders actually wait with several schemes to waylay customers at this time for making profit more than they can do for the rest of the year. They cash in on people's religious sentiment knowing full well that religion does not permit such practices and those are wrong too from the point of business ethics.

These are reasons why people become sceptical about price stability during the month of siam (self-abnegation). Perhaps the commerce ministry also does not feel confident that it can control prices in the market. Had it been the case, there was no need for open sale of a few select items through the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) which at other times remain dormant. Warning issued from the ministry proves most of the time an empty threat. If religious consideration got the better of greed, traders would have followed their counterparts in most developed countries where sale on discounts is a common practice. The trading communities in such countries feel better to serve the cause of religion while increased sale at lower profit more than makes up for the gap.