Prices of essentials are pandemic to the public

Abdullah Al Rashed has a motorbike and earns a living in Dhaka by ridesharing during the coronavirus pandemic. His trips have decreased because of the second wave of coronavirus. His daily earnings have halved to Tk 400-500 daily, excluding fuel costs, since last month.

Abdullah Al Rashed continues to passengers despite the government’s restrictions on ridesharing. After dropping a passenger off at Karwan Bazar, he entered the kitchen market hoping to buy some daily essentials at reasonable rates.

He said he earns Tk 15,000 a month and spends Tk 8,000 on house rent. Since the price of daily essentials is high, he has to somehow manage his family expenses. That is why nothing, not even the fear of coronavirus or being fined, has stopped him from ridesharing.

Pandemic has taken a huge toll on people’s earnings for over a year. There seems to be pandemic of high prices of essentials in the market too.

The Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB) has not released its report on the cost of living for 2020. Usually, it is released in January. The consumer rights body, however, has given a comparative scenario of the price hike of rice, lentils and sugar. It shows the price of coarse varieties of rice, on an average, increased by 21 per cent in 2020 from 2019. The price of loose soybean oil rose by 14 per cent, bottled soybean oil by 9 per cent, palm oil by 17 per cent, sugar by 20 per cent, large grained red lentils by 48 per cent and local variety of red lentils by 29 per cent.

The second wave of coronavirus has started in the country. The government has imposed a Covid-19 restriction for a week. The income of people, mostly working in the informal sector, has dropped. Like the workers of buses plying on long-distance routes, many others’ earnings have also stopped.

The price of rice didn’t drop a penny despite allowing traders to import the grain. According to the state-run Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB), the price of coarse varieties of rice increased by 7 per cent to Tk 48-52 a kg from last year while price of bottled soybean oil rose by 29 per cent to Tk 139 a litre. Price of non-branded sugar increased to Tk 70-72 a kg and packaged sugar to Tk 78 a kg.

Panic buying hit the markets after the Covid-19 restriction began on Monday to stem the spread of coronavirus. Bulk purchasing by the affluent created pressure. The Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) said prices of good quality coarse rice increased by Tk 4 a kg in a week and price of loose soybean oil by Tk 2-4 a litre. Besides, prices of onions, garlic, ginger and potato are also on the rise.

Llow-income people have been compelled to cut their grocery lists at the market. They are buying tilapia fish instead of hilsha or coarse rice instead of fine varieties.

Housewife Saleha Akhter went the capital’s Katasur kitchen market on Thursday. She wanted to purchase 15 kg of BR-28 rice. She visited several grocery shops, but no shopkeeper agreed to lessen prices even by Tk 1 a kg. Finally, Saleha Akhter purchased 10 kg of rice. She told Prothom Alo that she had Tk 1,000 in her hand and spent Tk 540 on rice. Now she needs to buy oil, lentils, potato, onions and vegetables with the remaining money. She will have to run her seven-member family for a week with this.

This time the government has less relief activities amid the countrywide restriction aimed at preventing Covid-19 pandemic. Its rice distribution didn’t increase in July-March of 2020-21 fiscal. TCB also increased the price of edible oil, sugar and lentils, taking advantage of the price hike in the market. Tax exemption in edible oil and sugar has not been implemented yet.

A study, conducted by private research South Asian Network on Economic Modeling (SANEM) in November-December of 2020, shows poverty has doubled to 42 per cent from the estimate of the government at the beginning of the pandemic.

The executive director of SANEM, Selim Raihan, said people’s earnings have decreased amid coronavirus pandemic plus purchasing power dropped because of rise in prices. Low-income people don’t purchase commodities that much and the price of goods that they buy are high now, he added.

This report appeared in the print and online edition of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten in English by Hasanul Banna