'Price Cell' yet to take off
Saturday, 2 October 2010
FE Report
An official move to establish a 'Price Cell' to help check unusual and artificial price hike of commodities in the domestic market faces bureaucratic red tape and procedural complexities, sources said.
Although the authorities started the groundwork a year back there has not been any progress on the Price Cell, an official close to the initiative said.
"The proposal on creation of a Price Cell still remains shelved," said the official.
Officials have blamed apathy of the authorities concerned along with some technical problems concerning operational aspects of the proposed Cell for the situation.
The authorities had a plan to formally launch the proposed price monitoring cell before the month of Ramadan, but it could not be materialised because of the reasons, they mentioned.
The main objective of establishing the proposed Price Cell was to help tackle any price and supply crisis of commodities in the domestic market.
Besides, the tasks and responsibilities of the exclusive price monitoring cell were to suggest remedies to the government for tackling the situation, officials said.
According to the proposal, the proposed Cell was to be established under the Ministry of Commerce and run under a project with the financial support from donors.
Primary responsibilities of the price monitoring wing were to create a comprehensive database on demand, supply and prices of major commodities.
Its other important tasks were to monitor the trends in the global commodity prices for the sake of helping avert any possible price shocks in the domestic market, officials said.
Officials said the ministry of commerce in association with some relevant agencies including Trading Corporation of Bangladesh and Bangladesh Tariff Commission had earlier started some preliminary ground works for the initiative.
Under a pilot project, the authorities with the help of experts and consultants are collecting data on major essential commodities from 20 wholesale and retail markets of Dhaka city.
An official said the move to establish such price monitoring cell came against the backdrop of 'unusual' price hikes of some essential commodities at domestic market on several occasions.
"Usually, the government finds itself in a difficult situation to cope with volatile prices primarily due to absence of necessary data and information on supply, demand and prices of such commodities," said an official.
If established, the price cell will help the government take steps earlier to prevent any unusual rise in the essential commodities at the domestic market, he observed.
An official move to establish a 'Price Cell' to help check unusual and artificial price hike of commodities in the domestic market faces bureaucratic red tape and procedural complexities, sources said.
Although the authorities started the groundwork a year back there has not been any progress on the Price Cell, an official close to the initiative said.
"The proposal on creation of a Price Cell still remains shelved," said the official.
Officials have blamed apathy of the authorities concerned along with some technical problems concerning operational aspects of the proposed Cell for the situation.
The authorities had a plan to formally launch the proposed price monitoring cell before the month of Ramadan, but it could not be materialised because of the reasons, they mentioned.
The main objective of establishing the proposed Price Cell was to help tackle any price and supply crisis of commodities in the domestic market.
Besides, the tasks and responsibilities of the exclusive price monitoring cell were to suggest remedies to the government for tackling the situation, officials said.
According to the proposal, the proposed Cell was to be established under the Ministry of Commerce and run under a project with the financial support from donors.
Primary responsibilities of the price monitoring wing were to create a comprehensive database on demand, supply and prices of major commodities.
Its other important tasks were to monitor the trends in the global commodity prices for the sake of helping avert any possible price shocks in the domestic market, officials said.
Officials said the ministry of commerce in association with some relevant agencies including Trading Corporation of Bangladesh and Bangladesh Tariff Commission had earlier started some preliminary ground works for the initiative.
Under a pilot project, the authorities with the help of experts and consultants are collecting data on major essential commodities from 20 wholesale and retail markets of Dhaka city.
An official said the move to establish such price monitoring cell came against the backdrop of 'unusual' price hikes of some essential commodities at domestic market on several occasions.
"Usually, the government finds itself in a difficult situation to cope with volatile prices primarily due to absence of necessary data and information on supply, demand and prices of such commodities," said an official.
If established, the price cell will help the government take steps earlier to prevent any unusual rise in the essential commodities at the domestic market, he observed.