Bracing for Ramadan price hike

When retail traders in Bangladesh make a lofty promise–not to lower prices during Ramadan– people tend to take it with a pinch of salt. Promises they say, are meant to be broken. And sections of people in a position of power are seemingly avowed followers of that time-tested dictum.

Weeks before the beginning of the Ramadan month, markets have seen a price hike in the most essential items almost across the board. From meat and pulses to vegetables and flour, nothing has been spared from this price hike, bringing hardship and grinding suffering to the lives of the poorest and most vulnerable sections of society. Many believe further increases should be expected in food prices. Consumers are being overcharged for all fruits, as these are essential for breaking the dawn-to-dusk fast. Retailers shift the blame on wholesalers saying they obtain things at higher prices from the latter and so they sell at higher prices. Many essentials might go beyond the reach of the common people this Ramadan if profiteers are allowed to have their way considering that the country is already witnessing an unusual rise in prices.

According to a report published in this newspaper on Monday retail traders at a meeting with businessmen, in the capital have promised that they will not increase the prices of essential commodities during the upcoming holy month of Ramadan. However, they demanded taking necessary measures to ensure an adequate supply of products during the fasting month and stop the wholesalers from pushing up the prices of essentials.

Retailers said every year traders are blamed for illogically raising the prices of goods during the fasting month. Various government agencies conduct raids and impose fines. If the adequate supply of products is ensured and the wholesale prices remain stable, then the prices of any products, including rice, lentils, edible oil, sugar, chickpeas and date, will not go up at the retail level.

If the government ensures enough supply, traders said, they will sell products at government-fixed prices. If someone pushes up prices unreasonably, they will resist it together. All these are very altruistic words and we would like to believe that they were being sincere when they uttered those words.

We believe that the retail traders definitely have genuine grievances. However, we also must acknowledge that an unholy nexus of unscrupulous traders have been manipulating the market for a long time. Hoarding and profiteering on the part of unscrupulous traders as they see the onset of a demand spiral coming their way has become a trend in Bangladesh.

It may be mentioned here that in many other Muslim countries, traders are bringing down essential items' prices to the lowest level to serve their poor people, and surely get the full benefit from this Holy Month. However, we do not expect such largesse from the retail traders here. But ensuring fair prices should not be too much to ask. And the government authorities must play their role in this connection.

Keeping the markets steady during Ramadan has always been a challenge for governments and usually, this has been magnified by the imbalances plaguing the economy.

Year in and year out, the government resolves to control the price hike well before the beginning of the month. However, it often fails miserably in its endeavour to do so. It is about time we held the administration responsible for its failure to check the spiralling commodity prices. The authorities concerned should move from paying lip service to the actual implementation of the strategies.