Easing hardships during Ramadan
Thursday, 21 August 2008
Government is seen as taking a host of measures in view of the observance of the holy month of Ramadan which is only less than two weeks away. The month of austerity involving fasting and other denials mean compulsory embracing of certain hardships by people. Therefore, it is only expected that additional hardships are not created from higher prices of essential goods and supply of basic services such as power and water becoming worse in this month.
The special assistant to the chief adviser on energy discussed with the media about the power situation last Tuesday and pledged that uninterrupted supply of power would be maintained during Ramadan specially during Shehri, Iftar and Tarabi prayer periods. This commitment of dependable power supply is a welcome one. But what is of the greatest importance is to keep it. A similar pledge was made on the eve of Ramadan last year to be only broken as power supply at that time remained as erratic and undependable as it had been for a long time. So, the authorities of the relevant ministry will need to absolutely ensure a positive outcome of their short-term plan for augmenting power supply through increased generation of power and streamlining transmission and distribution arrangements thereof during Ramadan.
Meanwhile, the prices of essentials, specially foodstuffs, are certainly the main concern of the vast body of consumers during the holy month. Consumption of certain edibles such as cooking oil, is found to be greater during Ramadan than at any other time of the year. The prices of items prepared for 'iftar' can go up from the excuse that the prices of the basic cooking aid, cooking oils, have increased. Thus, it was not encouraging to note a report in this paper last Wednesday that quoted refiners of edible oils as saying that prices of their products might not come down in Ramadan. They say they have stocks of edible oils but these were procured from the overseas markets at higher prices that prevailed at that time. Thus, they are now unable to decrease prices of the oils in local markets, notwithstanding that edible oil prices have been falling in international markets in recent weeks. Only when they will obtain fresh supplies from international markets at lower prices, then they would be in a position to pass the benefits of lower prices on to local consumers.
But consumers may respond to this by observing that they noted so many times in the past the prices of imported products that rose at retail and all other levels from the very day prices of these increased in international markets, notwithstanding that stocks at hand, locally, were procured at significantly lower prices much earlier. And no one in Bangladesh probably ever heard the happy news that the price of an imported product, with its price getting substantially lowered in international market, the price of that product also subsequently and proportionately fell likewise in the local markets. Therefore, there can be no substitute for effective price monitoring by government bodies in the Bangladesh setting. Constant and close monitoring of the markets as well as asking the traders -- on the basis of such monitoring -- to keep prices within reasonable bounds is indispensable. At least, one would like to think that the government would want to set a precedence during the coming Ramadan by absolutely frustrating any unreasonable price hikes of essentials in the markets by keeping pressure on the traders so that they get no chance to hike prices unjustifiably.
Government also has plans to open fair price shops to be run by the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) and Bangladesh Rifles (BDR). These are, undoubtedly, sound moves that would help the common man to absorb price shocks. But feedbacks from recent experiences in running such operations need to be carefully studied to make the processes more streamlined and efficient in coping with the needs of non-affluent consumers.
The special assistant to the chief adviser on energy discussed with the media about the power situation last Tuesday and pledged that uninterrupted supply of power would be maintained during Ramadan specially during Shehri, Iftar and Tarabi prayer periods. This commitment of dependable power supply is a welcome one. But what is of the greatest importance is to keep it. A similar pledge was made on the eve of Ramadan last year to be only broken as power supply at that time remained as erratic and undependable as it had been for a long time. So, the authorities of the relevant ministry will need to absolutely ensure a positive outcome of their short-term plan for augmenting power supply through increased generation of power and streamlining transmission and distribution arrangements thereof during Ramadan.
Meanwhile, the prices of essentials, specially foodstuffs, are certainly the main concern of the vast body of consumers during the holy month. Consumption of certain edibles such as cooking oil, is found to be greater during Ramadan than at any other time of the year. The prices of items prepared for 'iftar' can go up from the excuse that the prices of the basic cooking aid, cooking oils, have increased. Thus, it was not encouraging to note a report in this paper last Wednesday that quoted refiners of edible oils as saying that prices of their products might not come down in Ramadan. They say they have stocks of edible oils but these were procured from the overseas markets at higher prices that prevailed at that time. Thus, they are now unable to decrease prices of the oils in local markets, notwithstanding that edible oil prices have been falling in international markets in recent weeks. Only when they will obtain fresh supplies from international markets at lower prices, then they would be in a position to pass the benefits of lower prices on to local consumers.
But consumers may respond to this by observing that they noted so many times in the past the prices of imported products that rose at retail and all other levels from the very day prices of these increased in international markets, notwithstanding that stocks at hand, locally, were procured at significantly lower prices much earlier. And no one in Bangladesh probably ever heard the happy news that the price of an imported product, with its price getting substantially lowered in international market, the price of that product also subsequently and proportionately fell likewise in the local markets. Therefore, there can be no substitute for effective price monitoring by government bodies in the Bangladesh setting. Constant and close monitoring of the markets as well as asking the traders -- on the basis of such monitoring -- to keep prices within reasonable bounds is indispensable. At least, one would like to think that the government would want to set a precedence during the coming Ramadan by absolutely frustrating any unreasonable price hikes of essentials in the markets by keeping pressure on the traders so that they get no chance to hike prices unjustifiably.
Government also has plans to open fair price shops to be run by the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) and Bangladesh Rifles (BDR). These are, undoubtedly, sound moves that would help the common man to absorb price shocks. But feedbacks from recent experiences in running such operations need to be carefully studied to make the processes more streamlined and efficient in coping with the needs of non-affluent consumers.