Editorial
Prices of daily essentials going up
How will the low-income people survive?
As the prices of essentials continue to go up in the city's kitchen markets, lower- and middle-income people, already grappling with the fallout of the pandemic, are finding it hard to make both ends meet. Our correspondents visited four kitchen markets and one wholesale market of the city and found that the prices of kitchen essentials like rice, onion, oil, chicken, potato and fish rose by Tk 5 to Tk 90 per kg while the prices of vegetables rose by Tk 10 to Tk 15 per kg. While each kg of aubergine was being sold at Tk 80, a Tk 20 jump in a week, green chillies were being sold at Tk 200 per kg and local onions sold for Tk 60 to Tk 70 per kg, a hike of Tk 10 from a week ago and Tk 30 from a month ago.
The reason for vegetable and onion price going up is understandable as acres of vegetable farms were submerged in the recent floods damaging the production and traders also blamed the insufficient import of onions for the increased price of this essential item. But what could be the reason for the rice price hike?
Those who earn their living by doing small businesses like running fruit stores or grocery shops or selling vegetables on footpaths are finding it hard to live in the city with their families since their earnings fell drastically over the past few months. Being unable to meet their daily expenses, many have already sent their families to their village homes.
Under the circumstances, the government should act immediately to check the prices of essentials in the city's kitchen and wholesale markets. Continuous market monitoring is needed to stop dishonest businessmen from hoarding the daily necessities. Also, the government will have to consider reducing taxes and port charges to stop the price hikes of essential imports. It is good to know that the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) has started selling onion, lentil, sugar and soybean oil at reasonable prices from today. We hope they will continue these programmes until the prices of essentials are brought in to the reach of common people.