As part of the government’s efforts to stabilize commodity prices, the National Directorate for Consumer Rights Protection (DNCRP), under the Ministry of Commerce, fined a total of 6,573 commercial establishments in worth around Taka 3.94 crore across the country in the last three months. due to various irregularities.

After taking office, the caretaker government, led by Nobel laureate Professor Dr. Muhammad Yunus, took a series of measures to bring down prices of basic commodities to provide respite to citizens.

As part of these initiatives, commerce ministry officials said the ministry has formed a “special task force” to monitor and review the market situation and supply chain of essential commodities at the district level.

The additional deputy commissioner concerned is the convener of this special task force, while the deputy director of DNCRP is the secretary of the members.

An Additional Superintendent of Police, a District Food Controller or an appropriate representative, a District Livestock Officer or an appropriate representative, a District Fisheries Officer or an appropriate representative, an Agricultural Marketing Officer or a Principal Officer of agricultural marketing, a representative of the Consumers’ Association of Bangladesh (CAB) and two student representatives are members of the working group.

Members of the task force regularly visit different markets, large warehouses, cold rooms and other locations in the supply chain, and also monitor the issue of maintaining prices of essential commodities at a reasonable level.

The task force also ensures that the price difference between production, wholesale and consumption levels remains at a minimum level.

Further, on the recommendation of the Ministry of Commerce, the National Board of Revenue (NBR) lifted the regulatory duty of 5.0 percent on onion imports, reduced customs duty from 25 percent to 15 percent for the importation of potatoes and set a 5.0 percent customs duty on pesticide imports to control rising prices in the local market.

The tax authority also removed value added tax (VAT) on local production and trading stages of soybean oil, palm oil and other edible oils.

The NBR also reduced VAT on imports of crude and refined soybean oil, palm oil and other edible oils to 10 percent from the current 15 percent.
The authority also reduced import duty on eggs from 25 percent to 5 percent in order to increase the supply of eggs in the market and reduce the price of eggs at the consumer level.

Meanwhile, the state-run Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) sells products, including rice, at subsidized rates through truck sales to ordinary consumers.

Under this measure, each consumer can buy a maximum of 2 liters of edible oil at Taka 100 per liter, 2 kg of lentils at Taka 60 per kg and 5 kg of rice at Taka 30 per kg.

TCB also sells essential products at fair prices to ready-made garment workers.

The TCB has also made necessary preparations ahead of the holy month of Ramadan by importing products as well as purchasing items locally.

As part of its huge operations, the TCB reportedly sells some 20,000 tonnes of lentils, 2 crore liters of edible oil and 10,000 tonnes of sugar every month, along with the sale of onions and potatoes across the country through imports in accordance with the guidelines of the Ministry of Commerce. .

Additionally, TCB would sell 10,000 tonnes of chickpeas and 1,500 tonnes of dates during the holy month of Ramadan.