Even the middle class cannot make ends meet because of skyrocketing prices
Rising costs for raw materials is driving up the price of rice and other foodstuffs. Long queues form at government lorries selling essential goods at subsidised prices. Prime Minister Hasina promises 10 million assistance cards. Meanwhile, the poverty rate has reached 41 per cent.
Dhaka (AsiaNews) – Robin Haldar works for an NGO for a monthly salary of 40,000 taka (US$ 465).
About 15,000 go for rent and 6,000 are sent to his elderly parents in the village of Khulna. The rest goes for food, children's education, healthcare, transportation, etc.
In the past he managed to save 2,000 taka a month, today no more; on the contrary, he has to borrow money to support his family.
He sometimes buys products from a government company called the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB), which sells goods at subsidised prices for the poor.
Due to the rising cost of raw materials – which spiked because of the war in Ukraine – even the middle class have joined low-income workers to queue up at TCB lorries to stock up on basic items.
But this has attracted scammers who buy the products more than once and sell them at higher prices. The result is that after waiting in line for a long time, many people leave empty-handed.
TCB officials say sales from their lorries have increased 250 per cent from last year. According to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) and the Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB), rice, which cost 26 taka in 2010, now costs 51 taka, almost double.
Salt or chicken meat have also recorded similar increases. Beef has gone from 225 taka to the current 600.
The purchasing power of the average worker decreases, because wages have not kept up with inflation. Many people eat less and cannot save money as they used to in the past. As a result, thousands have left Dhaka and moved to farming areas.
Before the COVID-19 outbreak, the country’s poverty rate stood at 21 per cent; now it has reached 41 per cent. This means the country has 35 million new poor people.
“The poor and the middle class who go to the market and feel helpless must be vocal,” said CAB president Golam Rahman.
“Within days of rising commodity prices, government officials will demand increased salaries and allowances,” he explained. However, while “The government may increase their salary, ordinary people's income is not increasing.” Instead, “There will be more trouble for them.” To deal with this situation, “The government ought to increase the number of TCB selling points.”
On Tuesday, the country's prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, met with the leaders of 14 parties at her residence. She announced that millions of people will be given a special card to buy essential goods at low prices, and that her government would adopt measures to control the rising cost of commodities.
Noting that 3.7 million people had already received financial assistance during the COVID-19 epidemic, she pledged that the government would “include many more and eventually 10 million people will get this card.”
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08/04/2008
16/01/2008
