THE governor of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) has assured us on his return from Washington after attending the meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB) that prices of essentials will not increase, allaying the fear of further hike in the rate of inflation in the coming months.
But our real-life experience is different. The price of "atta" is now all-time high. The media reported the same, pointing out that the price of a two kg-packet of 'atta' shot up by Taka 10.00 from Taka 68.00 to Taka 78.00. The prices of all other essential items are also under serious pressures. The rising prices, afresh after the Eid-ul-Fitr, have put the low and middle income groups in extreme hardship. How can responsible officials of the government assure us about prices coming down? We wonder whether we will ever see such assurances becoming a reality.
Meanwhile, the rocketing prices of oil and gold in the international market holds out gloomy prospects for taming the inflation in the days ahead. The central bank governor has told us that the government would not increase the prices of oil, gas and electricity "at the moment". We will like to see how the central bank keeps the macro-economic situation stable under the given circumstances. All of us know it well that macro-economic stability is directly needed for containing inflation.
Ahmed Hossain
Dhanmondi, Dhaka
Prices of essentials and official assurances
FE Team | Published: October 28, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00
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