Permanent price monitoring cell being planned
Sunday, 12 August 2007
The commerce ministry is planning to set up a permanent price-monitoring cell following the makeshift cell's complete failure to have a positive impact in the market, officials have said, reports bdnews24.com.
The current cell has had hardly any impact on the spiraling cost of essential goods, because of shortages in manpower and logistics.
The caretaker government led by Fakhruddin Ahmed formed a temporary price-monitoring cell in February soon after assuming power.
A member of the cell told the news agency that the cell's members were required to go and intervene in market places, with little logistical support and no power of enforcement.
"We need magistracy power," said the cell member.
However, there will be no scope to give the permanent price cell such powers, according to Commerce Secretary Firoz Ahmed.
"Only a consumers' protection law can give that sort of power to officials concerned," he said.
Only three members out of four are currently able to give time to the working of the cell, in addition to their regular responsibilities, according to one member of the cell who asked not to be named.
The head of the current price cell is a deputy secretary of the commerce ministry whose regular duties involve dealing with Bangladesh trade abroad, already a heavy workload.
Another member is a deputy director of the WTO cell in the ministry, with similar heavy responsibilities in her day-to-day work.
The other two members are from the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB), though one is yet to join the cell.
"We will soon send a proposal to the establishment ministry in regard to a permanent price monitoring cell," Firoz Ahmed said.
"The permanent cell will be an outfit of the commerce ministry, but members of other concerned ministries will also be included for better functioning," he said.
Meanwhile, consumers are struggling with the rising prices of essentials, and are being urged by the government to accept it as a consequence of international market prices.
The government, who had promised to keep prices low, defended the current situation by claiming that the prices would have risen further if it had not withdrawn duties of some essentials.
"Prices here are quite rational compared to international market rates," Ahmed said.
"The prices of some items in the international market have risen by 15 per cent to 35 per cent in the last couple of months," he said, citing the examples of palm oil and baby milk.
The current cell has had hardly any impact on the spiraling cost of essential goods, because of shortages in manpower and logistics.
The caretaker government led by Fakhruddin Ahmed formed a temporary price-monitoring cell in February soon after assuming power.
A member of the cell told the news agency that the cell's members were required to go and intervene in market places, with little logistical support and no power of enforcement.
"We need magistracy power," said the cell member.
However, there will be no scope to give the permanent price cell such powers, according to Commerce Secretary Firoz Ahmed.
"Only a consumers' protection law can give that sort of power to officials concerned," he said.
Only three members out of four are currently able to give time to the working of the cell, in addition to their regular responsibilities, according to one member of the cell who asked not to be named.
The head of the current price cell is a deputy secretary of the commerce ministry whose regular duties involve dealing with Bangladesh trade abroad, already a heavy workload.
Another member is a deputy director of the WTO cell in the ministry, with similar heavy responsibilities in her day-to-day work.
The other two members are from the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB), though one is yet to join the cell.
"We will soon send a proposal to the establishment ministry in regard to a permanent price monitoring cell," Firoz Ahmed said.
"The permanent cell will be an outfit of the commerce ministry, but members of other concerned ministries will also be included for better functioning," he said.
Meanwhile, consumers are struggling with the rising prices of essentials, and are being urged by the government to accept it as a consequence of international market prices.
The government, who had promised to keep prices low, defended the current situation by claiming that the prices would have risen further if it had not withdrawn duties of some essentials.
"Prices here are quite rational compared to international market rates," Ahmed said.
"The prices of some items in the international market have risen by 15 per cent to 35 per cent in the last couple of months," he said, citing the examples of palm oil and baby milk.