Govt. Measures Reduce Essentials' Prices Significantly: PM

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina told the parliament today that her government's various initiatives including the open market sale of essentials by the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) helped reduce the commodity prices remarkably.

"The pro-people government has taken all kinds of steps to keep the prices of essentials at a tolerable level. The prices of the daily commodities have reduced significantly due to the activities of the TCB," she said.

She said this while replying to a tabled question from a treasury bench lawmaker Kazim Uddin Ahmed during PM's question-answer session.

Jatiya Sangsad Speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury presided over the 16th session of the 11th parliament.

Sheikh Hasina, also the Leader of the House, said prices of essentials have gone up significantly across the globe because of the economic meltdown arising out of the Covid-19 pandemic while the Russia-Ukraine war also fuels the price hike worldwide.

"As a result, the daily commodities' prices have increased in the world market," she added.

But, she said her government has taken all possible measures to keep the prices of essentials under control, hoping that its prices will also remain at tolerable level during the holy month of Ramadan.

 Stating her government’s different initiatives to bring down the daily commodities' prices, the prime minister said the one litre bottled soybean oil price was Tk 170 on March 1, which now decreases to Tk 161.50 on April 5.

 She said during this period the price of one litre loose soybean oil came down to Tk 155 from Tk 175 while the price of palm oil declined to Tk 142 from Tk 158.

"During the time, the TCB also sold per litre oil can at Tk 110," she added.

The leader of the house mentioned that the lentil price came down to Tk 112.50 on April 5 from Tk 120 while the TCB is selling it at Tk 65 per kilogram.

Loose sugar price decreased to Tk 78 per kilogram on April 5 from Tk 85 on March 1 while the TCB is selling at the price of Tk 55 per kilogram, she added.

Sheikh Hasina said the price of chickpeas was Tk 72.50 on April 5 while it was Tk 77 on March 1 as TCB is selling the item at Tk 50 per kilogram.

Regarding the onion price, she said, on March 1, it was selling at Tk 60 per kilogram while on April 5 it reduced to Tk 31.50 and the TCB is selling it at Tk 20 per kilogram.