State Minister for Commerce Ahsanul Islam Titu said prices of commodities may have increased due to various political reasons including holding ongoing upazila elections.
He said upazila elections are taking place all over the country. A lot of money is changing hands during this election. When supply of money in the market increases, it impact commodity prices.
He said this while talking to reporters after a workshop at Tezgaon in the capital on Thursday. The State Minister said people are spending lot of money because of election.
He said, "An inter-ministerial meeting will be held next week to keep the price of goods in the market bearable before Eid. "We are taking initiative to keep the prices of daily commodities within the purchasing power of the people," he said.
He said, at any festival like the Eid, a group of traders becomes active to increase commodity price. These unscrupulous traders will become active as Eid is looming. Market monitoring is going to be intensified to suppress them and keep prices of daily commodities bearable," he said. Titu said, "To keep the supply and prices of products affordable, tariff on daily necessities in the next budget should be reasonable; this matter will be discussed with NBR.
There will be a proposal to keep a reasonable tariff on essential commodities in the next budget. Moreover, inflation issue must be in mind while imposing taxes, he said.
Commerce Secretary Salim Uddin and senior officials were present.
