Govt keeps prices of essentials stable, Tofail tells JS

Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed told the Jatiya Sangsad (JS) on Thursday that the government is keeping the prices of essentials stable in the greater interests of the consumers, reports BSS.
In reply to a query of treasury bench member Nijam Hajari of Feni-2 in the House, the minister said various pragmatic steps have been taken with the help of different ministries and agencies concerned to arrest the price hike of necessary commodities.
The steps taken in the capital and elsewhere across the country include market monitoring, fixation of prices at wholesale and retail market, ensuring adequate and time-befitting supply of essentials and strictly monitoring the TCB (Trading Corporation of Bangladesh) activities through 3032 dealers to help reach the goods to the consumers, especially during the emergencies.
The minister said 14 teams under the auspices of commerce ministry are monitoring the market, realising fine from and enforcing punishment on those found involved in market manipulation in different ways.
Referring to a scripted question of M Abdul Latif of Chittagong -11, the minister said the present government has taken a step to export 50,000 tonnes of boiled rice to Sri Lanka. "We would consider such export if the sufficiency of rice can be ensured in future," he said.
On the quantity of sugar exported in the fiscal year (FY), 2013-14, the minister told treasury bench lawmaker Didarul Alam of Chittagong-4 electoral area that a total of US$11.48 million was earned through exporting sugar in that FY.
Replying to another question from treasury bench member Mahmud Us Samad Chowdhury, the commerce minister said that the country fetched Tk 222.85 million in FY, 2013-14, by exporting 1.77 million kilograms of tea.
The government has a plan to export more tea by boosting its production, the minister added.
Meanwhile, the commerce minister told the House that Bangladesh exported medicine to 107 countries across the world in the last FY, 2013-14.
The countries include: Germany, the United States, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, Canada, the United Arab Emirates and the Netherlands.
The minister was answering to a number of scripted questions tabled in the parliament.
Replying to the question of Amina Begum from women reserved seat-34, he said country's export earning from medicine export stood at $69.24 million in the same FY.