Commerce Ministry wants enough dollars for imports

Staff Correspondent : The government is working to keep the stock and supply of various daily necessities normal. At that time, the Ministry of Commerce will write to Bangladesh Bank to keep sufficient dollar supply for the import of 6 daily commodities in view of the increased demand.
Tapan Kanti Ghosh, the senior secretary of the Ministry of Commerce, said this after a meeting with traders to review the import situation of goods on the occasion of Ramadan on Wednesday.
After the meeting held in the meeting room of the ministry, he said, there is still a problem in opening the LC due to the dollar crisis. From this, a letter will be sent to Bangladesh Bank to provide sufficient dollars for the import of at least 6 products. The products are – edible oil, onion, sugar, lentils, chickpeas and dates. This request was made in respect of 8 products last year. He said, overall import is fairly normal. However, sugar import was a little less for seven-eight months. As India stopped exporting sugar, imports from Brazil were also hampered. Now again the Red Sea channel is having some trouble. Efforts are being made to solve this problem.
When asked whether a dollar quota will be asked for the import of consumer goods, the secretary said that the quota may not be asked. But to open the LC will be asked to increase the supply of dollars.
At the same time, private banks will be requested to open LCs with low or zero margin for the import of these consumer goods.
On the question of how much additional import should be made on the occasion of Ramadan, he said that the demand for some products during normal times doubles during Ramadan. Most products are in demand one and a half to two times more. And half of the demand of dates in the whole year is taken in Ramadan. Traders said that there is a problem in the import of dates due to the increase in duty. A letter was sent to NBR a few days ago to reduce the duty, but it has not been implemented. Because of this, the traders are not redeeming the dates brought to the port. The issue will be resolved by discussing with NBR.
He said, the price of the product depends on the import price. The price is determined by calculating how much it costs to ship, how much to pay for insurance, etc. If the price is high in the international market, the price will be high here, if it is low, it will be low. The review shows that prices of edible oil and sugar have remained stable in the international market. The prices of pulses and gram are also stable. Onion price will decrease. So overall it is said that product prices will be stable during Ramadan.
Tapan Kanti Ghosh said consumers shop a little more during the first seven days of Ramadan. Because of this, the price becomes a little higher. Consumers should also be aware of this. After the first few days of fasting, prices come down and stabilize. Buyers cannot benefit if they buy earlier.