Ramadan price rise is ‘not alarming’, says watchdog

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Commerce Ministry says there has been no alarming spurt in the prices of essential commodities during Ramadan.

Committee Chairman Ali Ashraf said its members expressed satisfaction about the market at a meeting held at parliament building on Sunday.

He told bdnews24.com: “Commodity prices have not increased excessively during this Ramadan because of market vigil by different agencies. That’s why the committee asked for heightened market monitoring.”

Ashraf said the increases in prices of several commodities including potato, onion and eggplant with the beginning of Ramadan were not ‘alarming’.

Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed and business leaders had earlier said the market would remain stable during Ramadan with adequate supply of commodities.

But the market saw a sharp rise in prices of essential commodities even before Ramadan. Business leaders had, however, attributed the hikes to the unfavourable weather.

The prices have kept increasing even as the spell of bad weather is over.

Onion topped the list of costlier commodities.

The fixing of minimum export price of onion at $500 a tonne recently by India, which caters to a large portion of demand in Bangladesh, has destabilised the market here.

The produce’s prices rose by Tk 15 a kg in two weeks following India’s decision.

The committee recommended improvement of the quality of the products that the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh is selling in open market.

Ashraf said: “In most cases, quality of TCB commodities is not good compared to the products available in the market. That’s why the committee has asked for improving the quality of the TCB goods.”