Kitchen budget on fire in Kushtia

The situation in Kushtia is challenging as its residents are forced to contend with a sudden spike in prices of essential items like sugar, flour, edible oil and pulses, against the backdrop of the Covid-induced recession.

Consumer inflation is a worldwide phenomenon. But when prices of essential commodities rise during an economic downturn, the uptrend tends to erode the purchasing power of ordinary people.

Many residents claim that the price rise has derailed their household budget -- this is because groceries make up the lion’s share of their monthly shopping basket. They blame the government for its failure to rein in the rates amid the second wave of the pandemic.

A recent reality check by UNB at Kushtia Municipality Bazar and Boro Bazar revealed that traders have been selling soybean oil for Tk 136 a kg, a five per cent hike over a week.

Similarly, a kg of sugar was being sold for Tk 80, a flat Tk 10 hike in a week. Not only soybean oil and sugar, flour and pulses have also seen a price hike over a period of just seven days -- both the items now cost Tk 6 more than their earlier retail rates.

“How are we going to survive if the government doesn’t take necessary steps to control the prices of essential items?” said a local resident.

Traders, on the other hand, pleaded helplessness. “We are buying the essential items at inflated rates.

Rabiul Islam, an official of the Market Monitoring Control, said: “We will probe if any syndicate is involved in the price hike amid Covid and take stern action.”