Price rise not in keeping with rise in purchasing power

Difference between rise in the prices of commodities and purchasing power of the common people is ever widening. The people with limited income and low salary are in serious trouble. Instability in the prices of food and other commodities in the world market is conspicuous. But the increase in commodity prices in our country is much more than in other countries compared to income of the people, as the business community here is habitually more profit-loving.
This profiteering motive causes a lot of suffering to the common people in Bangladesh, where the people spend about 70 per cent or more of their income on essential commodities like foods. The reasons for such behaviour of the Bangladeshi business community is that the demand elasticity of daily necessities is naturally very low (meaning people are compelled to buy them no matter how high their prices). It is easy for the business community to trade in the commodities with inelastic demand and amass huge wealth overnight than trading in other commodities with limited market and elastic demand, which almost 80 per cent people can go without.  Under the circumstance, many helpless people are forced to leave the country in search of employment and income abroad but in vain; in most of the cases they end up being dumped in the Thai and Malaysian jungle graves.
The common people can also ill afford protein-rich foods as their requirements for the entire population of the country are much more than the availability. As per estimates provided by the Bangladesh Animal Resources Directorate, the sources of animal protein-- cow, buffalo, goat, sheep and poultry have grown over time. So is the case with the production of fish, meat, milk and egg, but the supply is so low compared to the demand that these food items have gone almost out of reach of the common people. The major reason behind the widening gap between the requirement and the availability of proteins is the rise in population on the one hand and a lack of simultaneous increase in the production of protein sources on the other.
Prices have gone up manifold in the past few years but the rise in income is meagre. Poor people are getting involved in debts to meet the demand of their families. Their account of saving is in the margin of zero. They protest the government's claim that price hike is the result of a rise in income of the people.  In this country, if there is a rise of income by Tk 100, then increase in the market price is three-fold. If the salaries and allowances of the government employees are raised, market prices go beyond the reach of the salaried people in no time. Even an announcement of pay hike is enough to trigger spiraling of market prices. So, it is argued that if there is any increase in income, it is applicable only to dishonest businessmen, bribe taking officials and employees. They are, at the most, 5 per cent of the population, and income of the majority 95 per cent is stagnant in money terms and decreasing in real terms.   
The majority of the people of Bangladesh wants to earn modest living without having to indulge in corrupt practices. But they are in trouble under the pressure of the strangling market demons. It is no problem for those who are big and rich; they are in comfort in spite of price hikes.  But the problems are manifold for the numerous common people with low and limited income. On an average, the per capita earning of 95 per cent poor people of the country with steady source of earning is at the best Tk 250 to 300 per day. Almost the entire amount of this meagre income is spent daily to manage only the basic food requirements, not to speak of other essentials.
There is no denying that many families are not in a position to manage two square meals a day. Most of the people of the country are gradually plunging into the dark pit of silent famine. Moreover, if there are untoward events like natural calamities and political unrests which are frequent in the form of cyclones, hartals and blockades, the situation aggravates further with multifarious adverse economic effects together with the soaring of prices of commodities as their normal supply gets interrupted.  
The writer is a retired professor of Economics, BCS General Education Cadre.
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