The government has formed an inter-ministerial committee, which will recommend the government ways of averting possible price volatility of essential commodities, officials say.
Commerce and Agriculture secretaries are the co-chairpersons of the 21-member working group.
The group members will review the annual demand, production, stock and prices of such goods.
If any deficit is found in the market, it will offer advice to the government to overcome the crisis.
The members of the group will sit every alternate month.
Representatives from the Prime Minister's Office, cabinet division, finance, home affairs and food ministries, the National Board of Revenue, Bangladesh Bank, Competition Commission, Bangladesh Trade and Tariff Commission and other state-run agencies have been included in the group.
The committee has been constituted according to the decision of an inter-ministerial meeting held at the Commerce Ministry on November 01, 2020.
The Commerce Ministry issued an official order in this connection last month.
The move came following the sudden hike in onion, potato and edible prices in the local market, a senior official of the ministry said.
The sudden hike in essential goods puts the government in an embarrassing situation.
As part of ensuring the sufficient supply and containing prices of the essential goods in the market, the Commerce Ministry has already taken multiple measures.
Under the circumstances, an adequate supply of such goods has been ensured to meet the growing demand of the country, the official mentioned.
The government has strengthened its market monitoring to tackle the situation.
It has taken proper steps to ensure that the supply of the key items is not disrupted.
Earlier, required instruction were sent to the Chittagong, Mongla and inland port authorities to take the next course of action for releasing, loading and unloading of imported onion on a priority basis to ensure its smooth supply in the country.
State-run Trading Corporation of Bangladesh launched open market sale (OMS) of such goods through trucks to stabilise the prices and supply of the most-consumed items in the market.
Besides, the edible oil refiners slashed prices of palm oil and soybean oil (loose) by Tk 2.0 per litre at the mill gate in a recent meeting with commerce minister Tipu Munshi.
