A series of unfortunate trends
Zahed Sharif, an entrepreneur running an online jewellery store, will not be able to enjoy Ramadan as he did before. "Thanks to soaring prices of everyday commodities, in many households including mine, there will be simpler food on the table," he said.
The ongoing price hike resulted in lifestyle changes for Zahed Sharif and his family, but for others less fortunate the situation is far more serious.
Market prices of essentials already reflect his worries, since prices of brinjals increased from Tk 40-50 last week to Tk 70-80 per kg this week, according to sellers.
Moreover, other Ramadan essentials, such as cucumber, also increased from Tk 70 to Tk 100 per kg, and sugar from Tk 80 to Tk 84 per kg even right before Ramadan.
People who once considered themselves to belong in the middle-income class, are now reflected as the nouveau poor, because of job losses and the incessant spike in prices of basic commodities. These people have no other way but to turn to the government mediation for survival.
Laiju Begum works as a temporary helping hand at four different apartments in Paribagh area. Her chores involve everything from cleaning the house to doing the dishes, for which she earns a sum of Tk 12,000 every month. Her husband, a van driver, earns about Tk 500-800 per trip, grossing around Tk 8,000-10,000 per month.
"Nearly one-third of our income is spent on the rent, which is Tk 7,000 for a single room in the tin-shed shanty. At least Tk 3,000-5,000 is spent on essential food items," said Laiju.
To ease the hardships of people like Laiju, the Trading Corporation Bangladesh (TCB) provides low-cost food items. However, there are challenges with that too.
"The TCB lines are huge! We have to withstand insufferable queues to get the goods. If we stand in the queue at 11:00am, we receive our designated goods by 2:00-3:00pm. Sometimes it takes even longer," Laiju said.
"Everywhere around the world, prices of basic commodities decrease during Ramadan so that everyone can afford them. Only here you would see them sky-rocket instead," said a retailer, wishing to remain anonymous.
Joynal Miah, a trader at the Karwan Bazaar commodity market, said, "Our profit margin is low. Big players and wholesalers control the market. We cannot keep the prices low even if we wanted to."
Another trader at the same market, Kawsar Miah, highlights a different picture. "Markets will be controlled soon because the NBR has decided to cut the indirect tax on imports of edible soybean oil from 15 to 5 percent. The retail prices of oil that went to over Tk 800 per five litres earlier in March, came down to Tk 760 in April. We are hopeful that prices will stabilise in the coming months," he said.
Dr Selim Raihan, professor of economics at Dhaka University and executive director of South Asian Network on Economic Modeling (SANEM), said, "We have all the necessary rules and regulations in place. There are important departments like the Bangladesh Competition Commission, Ministry of Trade and Commerce, Consumer Association of Bangladesh etc. Yet the prices of essential goods are soaring every year."
"It is only with increased efforts from the government that we will be able to minimise inflation."
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