Twenty four international banks have agreed to accept letters of credit (LCs) from Bangladesh for the import of grains from Russia and Ukraine in US dollars, said Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi.
“If necessary, the government will import food from international markets to tackle the rise in prices,” he said.
After a meeting with peers at Bangladesh Secretariat in Dhaka on Thursday, Munshi told journalists that from now on there should not be any confusion on whether Bangladesh would import food from Russia and Ukraine.
The minister said his peers had confirmed that there were no sanctions on the import of grains from Russia and Ukraine.
However, the minister did not state particularly when and how much food would be imported from the two countries as they only held discussions and were yet to take a decision.
He also did not disclose the names of the 24 banks.
Since the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine war on February 24, the price of wheat flour has increased sharply in local markets as Bangladesh imports wheat mainly from the Black Sea region.
Munshi said the cabinet ministers also discussed the possibility of using currencies other than the US dollar, like the Chinese renminbi and Russian rouble, as the country has been going through a shortage of greenbacks to meet import bills.
However, no decision was taken in this regard, he said, adding that the government was trying to keep dollars at an affordable rate to meet the demand for imports.
Salman F Rahman, adviser to the prime minister on private industry and investment, said they also held discussions on the export of drugs from Bangladesh to Russia and import of fertilizer and wheat from Russia.
Rahman said an opportunity has been created for the export of medicine to Russia as the demand has increased in that market.
However, registrations with the Russian drug administration over their use of 26 locally made drugs need to be extended and this was also discussed, he said.
Rahman also said there was a sanction on Russian export of petroleum products and its import was also discussed.
Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder said the government would begin selling rice under its Open Market Sale (OMS) program, which offers subsidized prices, from September 1 to rein in skyrocketing prices.
“Every person will be able to purchase a maximum of 10 kilograms of rice from trucks of the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh,” he said.
However, the minister did not mention how much the rice would cost.
