State minister suggests using rice flour to cut high wheat import costs

A state minister suggests people in Bangladesh ignorantly moan about price rises

State Minister for Religious Affairs Faridul Haque Khan Dulal has advised citizens to use flour made from rice instead of wheat, which has become costlier due to the Russia-Ukraine war.

Speaking at a workshop in Dhaka on Sunday, he also said people in Bangladesh moan rather ignorantly about price rises without realising that they are in a “better condition than people in other countries”.

“A little price rise in Bangladesh has created a public headache. But they don’t realise how much the prices have increased in comparison to other countries,” he remarked.

Citing his daughter, who lives in Australia, the state minister said the cost of living in Australia is so high that people need to pay around Tk 3,000 in Australian dollars to buy a chicken.

Citing pilgrims who recently performed Hajj, he said an egg costs 5 riyals, or around Tk 120, in Saudi Arabia, while in Bangladesh around a dozen eggs can be had with the same amount of money.

Petrol is available at Tk 90 per litre in Bangladesh while it costs £3.53, or Tk 380, in Britain, according to him.

He said the Russia-Ukraine war has pushed up the prices of grains, cooking oil and fuel across the world. Bangladesh and many other countries that depend on imports of wheat for flour have been affected by the war.

“Let’s not eat bread made of wheat flour. Then we won’t need to import wheat and there will be no pressure on our foreign currency reserves and no shortage of the dollar. Let’s eat rice flour instead of wheat flour for three months. Let’s see what happens,” Faridul said.