Sukanta Halder is the Staff Correspondent of The Daily Star.
The rising price level in Bangladesh has left the middle and low-income segments in a severe cost of living crunch, with inflation hovering above 9 percent since March last year.
Traders opened LCs worth $247.26 million in July-January of the current fiscal year of 2023-24, up 25.81 percent year-on-year, central bank data showed.
The number of shoppers has been increasing since Friday, said brands and retailers. But with about 18 days left until Eid, consumers are yet to start buying clothing items in large quantities, they said.
The four are: Sunflower Life Insurance, Progressive Life Insurance Company, Sunlife Insurance Company and Homeland Life Insurance Company
Consumers were not spared even during the fasting month of Ramadan, a time to show self-restraint, even though there have been a lot of promises and drives on the part of the government. Therefore, while devotees perform their religious duty, the escalated prices of essentials have continued to give them hard times.
Textile makers in Bangladesh are witnessing slow sales ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr due to factors including a drop in demand for women's salwar-kameez amidst a high living cost and a lack of interest among the affluent class to donate clothes as Zakat to avoid hassle.
The narrow streets of Old Dhaka’s Moulvibazar hum with activity: commodity trading. On mobile phones, wholesalers fervently follow prices on trading floors in Chicago and London to bet on the local prices of sugar and edible oil. In and around tea stalls in this gloomy corner of Dhaka, even idle chats are centred around the price movement on the London Commodity Exchange, the Chicago Board of Trade, and the Bursa Malaysia.
Some think that the existing supply order (SO) system is one of the reasons for the spike in the prices of essential goods such as sugar and edible oil simply because prices increase each time the document changes hands.
The government’s promise of containing the prices of essentials ahead of Ramadan seems to be only on paper as the prices of key items instead rose over the last month.
Eighteen non-life insurance companies spent more in 2022 on management expenses than allowed, leaving a negative impact on their overall business and eroding their capacity to settle claims.
In order to boost supplies and contain prices of essential goods during the month of Ramadan, the government took measures to alleviate the burden on consumers by reducing value added tax and import duties on four commodities -- edible oil, sugar, dates and rice on February 8.
Though there is currently no supply crunch in the country, a section of unscrupulous importers and traders have already hiked the prices of essentials, creating an artificial crisis to make extra profits ahead of Ramadan, said a home ministry report.
Around a month past most of its directors being relieved of their duties over the alleged embezzlement of a fixed deposit and violation of the insurance act, Swadesh Islami Life Insurance Company has now had its registration suspended for three months
The government has cut the export subsidy for almost all sectors to reduce the pressures on Bangladesh's coffers and bring down the rates gradually
Danish fruit drinks firm CO-RO A/S is going to launch its new brand in Bangladesh to enhance their global footprint and grab a slice of the country’s market.
International clothing retailers and brands are still choosing seaways, instead of air, to carry goods from Bangladesh to Europe although the rerouting of ships away from the Red Sea has increased the freight charge by more than 30 percent and added 15 days to the sailing time.
Ever since the metro trains started operating between Uttara and Motijheel all day, buses have been seeing fewer passengers.
With Ramadan less than two months away, the prices of chickpeas, dried peas, dates, and soybean oil have increased in Dhaka and Chattogram.