Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi on Friday asserted that Bangladesh is in a relatively favourable position compared to other countries despite an increase in commodity prices.
"We are doing well in Bangladesh, even though the prices of goods have increased," he claimed during a post-budget press conference for the 2023-24 fiscal year, held at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre.
The commerce minister further expressed optimism about the future, stating that the government hopes for even better things to come.
Looking at the global perspective, Tipu Munshi illustrated the country's standing: “If you look at the rest of the world, you will see that we are doing well.”
“Although there is some hardship for the lower-income people, something even the finance minister has acknowledged, we have provided lentils, rice and cooking oil at affordable prices to 10 million families, keeping this in mind,” he said.
“We have sold onions at a lower cost when the price surged,” the minister added.
Tipu Munshi also talked about the reasons behind the commodity price hike.
“The middle-income consumers create issues by hoarding commodities. The price increases of the goods we import inevitably have an impact on our local markets and they create unstable circumstances by taking advantage of the situation,” the minister said.