Finance Adviser Dr Salehuddin Ahmed has said the ongoing political tensions between Bangladesh and India would not affect bilateral trade relations.
"Politics won't interfere with the commercial and trade issues with India," he said replying to a query while briefing newsmen after a meeting of the Advisers Council Committee on Government Purchase at the Secretariat on Wednesday.
The adviser also said Bangladesh will import commodities from any country which will supply quality items at competitive prices and in a speedy manner, no matter whether it is India or another nation.
"We're talking with India, Myanmar and even with Vietnam (to source commodities), but politics would not enter into these issues," he said.
In response to a question about an Indian politician's threat to halt exports to Bangladesh, the adviser said the neighbouring country produces rice and onions. "Where will they export these commodities when there is an excess?"
He also expressed the hope that commodity prices would remain stable during the upcoming holy month of Ramadan.
At the same time, the adviser disagreed with claims that the prices of essential commodities are not stable now. "I don't agree that commodity prices are not stable at all as prices have decreased to some extent," he said.
However, he said the price of edible oil has risen significantly. "We have discussed how to bring its price down," he added.
When asked about the possibility of price hikes due to syndicates, the adviser said syndicates are everywhere. There are syndicates for extortion, syndicates in transport, and even syndicates in politics. "I always say that political consensus is impossible, but consensus on checking extortion is possible."
Asked why the market is not witnessing any impact of tax reduction on commodity prices, the avider said this is a matter of concern. "We have lowered taxes to zero in most cases (for commodity imports)."
According to officials, the purchase committee meeting held on the day approved several proposals, including the purchase of 150,000 tonnes of rice, 60,000 tonnes of fertiliser, 30,000 tonnes of rock phosphate, 10,000 tonnes of lentils, and 5,000 tonnes of sugar.
Under the approval, the food directorate will import 100,000 tonnes of non-boiled rice from Myanmar Rice Federation (MRF) at a price of Tk 6.18 billion, with each tonne costing $515.
The food directorate will also import 50,000 tonnes of non-aromatic boiled rice from M/S Mondol Stone Product Pvt Ltd at a price of Tk 2.80 billion, with each tonne priced at $467.70.
The meeting also authorised the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) to buy 5,000 tonnes of sugar from City Sugar Industries Ltd at a price of Tk 592 million, with each kg of sugar costing Tk 118.43.
Moreover, the TCB has been given approval to buy 10,000 tonnes of lentil from M/S Payel Traders, Chattogram at a price of Tk 966 million.
Also, the meeting gave approval to Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC) to buy 30,000 tonnes of bagged prilled urea fertiliser from Qatar Energy Marketing, 30,000 tonnes of bulk granular urea fertiliser from SABIC Agri-nutrients Company, Saudi Arabia, and 30,000 tonnes of rock phosphate from M/S Zentrade FZE, UAE.
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