Govt to beef up market monitoring
The government would beef up market monitoring in order to know about market trends in advance, Commerce Adviser Hossain Zillur Rahman yesterday said.
He was talking to reporters at his secretariat office following a meeting of the price-monitoring committee.
The committee comprises representatives from the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) and other trade bodies, Palli Karma Sahayak Foundation (PKSF), Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) and importers and suppliers of essential commodities.
Noting that coordinated market monitoring can bring down prices of essential commodities to a great extent, the adviser said, "We're going to further strengthen the market monitoring so we could glean market information in advance in order to keep the market stable," he said.
Pointing to rice-price differences between the local market and the international market, he said, "Rice prices on the international market are very high; but in Bangladesh they are not so steep.”
On food safety, Zillur said the government has 9 lakh tonnes of rice in its warehouses across the country, adding that 3 lakh tonnes more would be imported from India by the end of next month.
"So, food reserves are enough to deal with any situation on the local market," he said.
The adviser said the government will prioritise the upcoming Aman cultivation like the Boro crop in order to ensure a bumper harvest.
Pointing to a recent IMF report on wheat prices, he said prices of the corn would go down soon as the prices were increased on speculation.
Comments