Bangladesh Bank has cut the lending rate to 11% against the financing for onion import.
The decision has been taken to prevent the recent price hike of onion and to ensure adequate supply of the goods to the market, said a circular Bangladesh Bank issued yesterday.
Currently, the average lending rate in the financial market is 11.67%.
The central bank set the highest rate of interest at 11% as there has been shortage of onion supply to consumers’ level in the market.
The instruction will remain effective till December 30, 2015, according to the circular.
The circular explained that the price of onion in the local market went up due to price hike in the international market.
The rising price of onions has triggered an outrage among the high-end consumers.
The Commerce Ministry, worried over the spiralling price, has asked wholesalers to supply onions at less than Tk50 per kilogramme.
Due to a supply shortage following several days’ rain, the price of Indian onion rose sharply to Tk90 although it was only Tk60 in the last week.
Another reason for the soaring prices of imported onion is that the Indian government has recently increased its export price to $700 from $450.
Amitav Chakravarti, additional secretary to the Commerce Ministry who also head of international market monitoring team said 11,000 metric tons of onion entered into the country from Malaysia, China, Myanmar and Egypt in last seven days.
The price of onion in the Indian market has already gone down and it will impact positively on Bangladesh’s kitchen market soon, he expected.
