The commerce ministry will not fix the prices of all nine commodities as pricing of agricultural goods fall under the purview of the agricultural ministry, Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi said today.
After more than two weeks of homework, the commerce ministry took the decision about the nine commodities, the prices of which were supposed to be fixed by the Bangladesh Trade and Tariff Commission (BTTC) within the middle of September.
To arrest the abnormal price hike, Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi in a meeting on August 30 said the tariff commission will fix the prices of rice, sugar, edible oil, lentil, flour, wheat flour, onion, mild steel products and cement with 15 days.
After the announcement, experts said price fixing of basic commodities was illogical, impractical and will not yield any positive result.
The officials of the Directorate of National Consumers Right Protection were supposed to monitor the prices of the nine products to check if there is any price manipulation, the minister said.
The minister again reiterated Friday that the BTTC will fix the prices of nine commodities within seven days to stop their illogical price escalation by a section of dishonest traders in the local markets.
Munshi, however, said in a meeting today at the National Press Club that the pricing of agricultural products falls under the purview of the agricultural ministry as per a rule of the government made in 2018.
Munshi was speaking at a meeting of the Overseas Correspondents' Association of Bangladesh.
