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MoC meets today to devise battle plan on prices

Rezaul Karim | Published: February 16, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2024 06:01:00


The government is going to draw up a plan far a head of the month of Ramadan to battle prices of some key essential items, officials have said.
The ministry of commerce (MoC) holds a meeting today (Monday) with that end in view. Additional Secretary and Director General (DG) of WTO Cell at the MoC Amitava Chakraborty will preside over the meeting.
Market prices, collections, supplies, stocks and import of the essential items will be discussed in the meeting, according to an official at the review and forecast cell of essentials of the MoC.
In the meeting necessary steps would be taken to stabilise the prices of the essential commodities such as sugar, edible oil, onion, dates and grams during the next Ramadan, he added.
He, however, declined to disclose what measures would be taken for stabilising the prices of essential items during the Ramadan.  
Meanwhile Amitava Chakraborty said the meeting would discuss issues relating to stabilisation of the market of essential commodities.
A senior official of the MoC said: "The government will closely monitor the prices of essential commodities with a view to protecting the common people from purchasing the same at abnormal prices. From our experience it is noticed that the prices of essential commodities usually go up during the holy month of Ramadan."
 "We will start checking the prices of essentials from the very beginning of the holy month of Ramadan and will inspect the wholesale and retail markets of essential items in Dhaka city. We will also collect data on price indices during the inspection drives," a deputy secretary of the MoC told the FE Saturday.
 "Besides, during inspection we will collect information on stock and supply of the essentials. If there arises any kind of abnormal situation in the market, we will take action instantly," he said.
The inspection teams would also to be able take stringent action against the manipulators, under the existing legal provisions of the country, to ensure normal prices of essential items, he added.
Presently, the teams formed last year comprising officials from different ministries, government agencies and business associations are monitoring the wholesale and retail markets of essential items.
 "It is important that each consumer or individual has the right to buy the daily necessities at reasonable or affordable prices," said a source.
 "We will monitor the prices as the government is committed to ensuring the fair prices and adequate supply of essential commodities in the markets," he said.
 "We hope the measures taken by the government will keep the market stable not only during Ramadan but also in the subsequent months," he added.
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