Price control

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THE rate of inflation has increased to well above 10 per cent. Consumers of the more numerous humble category with limited purchasing power in the country have been feeling the pressure of substantially increased prices of essential commodities.
The free market philosophy is ascendant in Bangladesh. But free markets are found not devoid of regulatory attempts on the part of governments elsewhere, specially when the same relate to goods regularly consumed by common people with modest purchasing power.
Import duties and other taxes for essential goods have been reduced as deliberate measures to push down their prices. But the measures have had no impact on the price lines. This market behaviour is difficult to explain, other than what is widely perceived to be unethical profiteering instincts on the part of some unscrupulous traders.
Market economy principles may not encourage outright policing actions against wholesalers and retailers but the laws of the land allow for steps to be taken judiciously but firmly against over profiteering. However, so far, no application of these laws has been noted although their skillful application would not be unjustified under the present conditions. Nothing in the free market philosophy says that the government should not use the ways and means available to it to prevent deliberate distortions in the market or market failures that cause widespread suffering to consumers.
There is a pressing need for the relevant ministries to urgently engage in talks with the traders to get their objective views about the higher prices and do all that is possible to help arrest the prices.
Nurul Huda
Srestha View, Naya Paltan, Dhaka