The interim government of Bangladesh will procure 50,000 tonnes of rice from India to address the depletion of the country's food stocks and thereby meet consumer demand for the cereal grain amid ongoing inflationary pressure.

The rice will be used to supply state-sponsored food distribution programmes, which are running in full swing to meet consumer demand amid the persistent high inflation.

The associated proposal for this purchase was approved by a meeting of the Advisory Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by Finance Adviser Salehuddin Ahmed yesterday.

As such, the food ministry will now import the rice through M/S Bagadiya Brothers Private Ltd in India at a cost of $456.67 per tonne.

As per data of the food ministry, Bangladesh had a stock of 11.48 lakh tonnes of food grains as of December 17. Of this amount, about 7.42 lakh tonnes were rice.

The government had imported 26.25 lakh tonnes of food grains, of which 54,170 tonnes were rice, as of December 17 in the current fiscal year.

The government plans to distribute 20.52 lakh tonnes of food grains through various channels in the current fiscal of 2024-25.

Of the total, 8 lakh tonnes of rice will be collected from the local market during the ongoing Aman season. A higher amount will then be sourced locally during the Boro season in early 2025.

Up until December 5, the food ministry had supplied about 11.17 lakh tonnes of rice for various food distribution programmes.

The government has also approved separate proposals for purchasing two cargoes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and 90,000 tonnes of fertiliser (urea) in order to meet the country's growing demand.

The Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources has settled on procuring the LNG from M/S TotalEnergies Gas and Power Ltd in Switzerland on floating an international quotation.

One cargo will cost $14.25 per MMBtu and the other $13.87 per MMBtu.

Meanwhile, the industries ministry will buy 90,000 tonnes of urea fertiliser through separate proposals, including to Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

The Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) will procure 10,000 tonnes of lentils from Sheikh Agro Food Industries in Dhaka, with each kilogramme costing Tk 95.40.

In addition, the TCB will procure 1.10 crore litres of soybean oil from City Edible Oil Limited in Dhaka for about Tk 172.25 per litre.