Commodity prices soaring due to domestic reasons

Prices of essentials are rising sharply and going beyond the people's reach due partly to domestic reasons, including market distortions by a small number of dominant firms and lax regulations, said the Centre for Policy Dialogue yesterday.

The CPD made the observation at an event titled "CPD's Recommendations for the National Budget FY2023-24", held at its office in the capital's Dhanmondi.

There are some essentials such as rice, sugar, soybean oil and beef that are more expensive in Bangladesh than in other developing or industrialised countries, said Fahmida Khatun, executive director of the think-tank.

Many families, including those having minimum wage earners, are struggling to afford them. So, many of them are excluding meat and fish from their menus, she said.

Comparison of prices shows that the prices of essentials don't fall in Bangladesh even when the international prices decline. Moreover, the prices of some food items have remained consistently higher at home than those in the global markets, according to Fahmida.

At least 28 imported essential food items carry high incidence of tax, she observed.

"In the backdrop of the soaring inflation, the National Board of Revenue should reduce the duties and taxes both at the import and domestic levels in order to provide some respite to consumers with low and limited incomes."