If people don’t buy in excess, there will be no price hike of essentials ahead of Ramadan: Tipu Munshi

Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi has said there will be no price hike of daily essentials if people refrained from purchasing excess items ahead of Ramadan.

“Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) members, police and executive magistrates will monitor markets and there will be no price hike of essential items if people do not buy excess items ahead of Ramadan,” he said.

The commerce minister said this while talking to reporters after attending a programme at Chandpur Police Lines Auditorium on Friday.

Due to the dollar price going up, prices of daily essentials have gone up in many countries and the prices of imported goods have also seen a rise in Bangladesh, he said.

Keeping this in mind, the government has started selling edible oil, sugar, dates, chickpeas and lentils through state-owned Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) at low prices for one crore low-income families, he added.

From Thursday, TCB started selling daily essentials ahead of Ramadan.

The card holders can buy goods at subsidized rates from specific TCB sales points and dealers’ outlets.

A card holder can buy 2 litres of soybean oil, 2 kg lentils, sugar, chickpea and 1 kg dates at a time.

The card holders can buy sugar at TK 60 per kg, date at Tk 100 per kg, lentils at Tk 70, chickpeas at Tk 50 and soybean oil at Tk 110 per litre.