PRICES of different varieties of rice have gone up by 20 to 25 per cent in retail markets which are beyond the capacity of common consumers. This is happening when the harvesting season of summer paddy is on. Only seven hundred thousand metric tons of rice was affected by flash floods in the hour areas which is less than 2.0 per cent of our annual yields and the government decided to import six hundred thousand metric tons of rice to retain a healthy stock. Usually at this time of the year price of rice comes down to its lowest level which is not happening this time. The secret behind the fact is that large rice millers received huge short-term loans from banks. They used the money for hoarding rice creating crisis in markets. The same thing happened eight years ago. At that time Bangladesh Bank (BB) instructed all banks to realise agricultural loans within a month and the price of rice started coming down within a week. This time also the central bank BB should repeat the same measure to protect the interest of the common consumers.
Md. Ashraf Hossain 120 Central Bashabo, Dhaka-1214. [email protected]
- Sunday, 5 May 2024 |
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