With the holy month of Ramadan two days away, the government seems to largely be failing to stand by its promise of ensuring the prices of essentials do not increase.
According to various reports, the prices of essential commodities in Bangladesh continue to fluctuate despite large-scale imports. The current market realities, defined primarily by inflation and demand-driven prices, form a stark contrast against the interim government’s oft-repeated assurance of reasonable prices, with the commerce advisory itself reassuring the public earlier this year that essential commodity prices will not increase during Ramadan.
The fact that even increases in imports have been unable to tame prices certainly points to other factors at being play as well, as stock-hoarding, extortion, price-fixing by syndicates have historical precedence in the market, and it is nothing but a failure on the part of the governments past and present to clamp down on such practices, practices which create an artificial scarcity in the market, leading to a surge in prices and burdening consumers.
While stop-gap solutions such as the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh selling essentials on open markets, as has been going on in Rajshahi recently, are appreciated, the interim government needs to stand by its assurances with more conviction.
To that end, strict monitoring and enforcement mechanisms are the bare minimum -- the relevant authorities must closely monitor the market to ensure that traders are not hoarding essentials and are indeed selling them at fair prices, while penalties for unscrupulous pricing strategies need to be strictly enforced to deter the culture altogether.
Ramadan is supposed to be a month of piety and reflection, this is a month where those of the Muslim faith test their resolve and patience by fasting for hours on end. Allowing the prices of essentials to be out of reach does nothing but make that test even more arduous.
