OMS of rice starts Sept 1: Minister

The government will start simultaneously its open market sale (OMS) and food friendly programmes early next month aiming to check price volatility of rice in the local markets, the food minister said on Sunday.

"We will start selling rice at Tk 30 per kilogram (kg) through the OMS programme from 1st September," Mr Sadhan Chandra Majumder told the journalists at his Bangladesh Secretariat office in the city.

A total of 2,013 dealers will be appointed for selling rice at the subsidised rate under the OMS, he said.

Apart from OMS, the government will also start its food friendly programme from September 1 under which rice will be sold at Tk 15 a kg for the marginalised poor.

A total of 5.0 million (50 lakh) families or 40 million (four crore) people will be benefitted from the food friendly programme, he informed.

"I hope prices of rice will come down and be stable once we start simultaneously the OMS and Food Friendly programmes from 1st September," he said while responding to a query about recent rice price hike in the local markers.

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