Govt focused on keeping commodity prices tolerable in Ramadan: Shafiqul Alam

Chief Adviser's Press Secretary Shafiqul Alam has said the interim government is focusing on keeping the prices of essential commodities at an affordable level during the holy month of Ramadan.

He made the remark while speaking at a press briefing at the Foreign Service Academy on Saturday.

In October last, Alam said, Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus instructed all concerned agencies of the interim government to work intensively focusing on Ramadan aiming to keep the prices of essential goods at a tolerable level.

To this end, they worked intensively, he said, adding that data showed that the prices of the majority of these goods remain at tolerable levels compared to that of the previous Ramadan.

"The interim government will focus on how the prices of essentials could be kept at a tolerable level during the whole of Ramadan," Alam said.

Mentioning that the prices of some essential goods including date and chickpeas go up during Ramadan, the press secretary said the Commerce Ministry, the National Board of Revenue (NBR), Bangladesh Bank and the Traffic Commission are extensively working to maintain the prices of these goods at an affordable level.

With coordinated efforts, the prices of the goods were kept at a tolerable level, he said the government is working to increase the supply of edible oil and continuously monitoring the import of edible oil.

"We are expecting that the supply scenario of edible oil will be better in the coming days...we hope its price will go down and remain at a tolerable level," he said.

Chief Adviser's Deputy Press Secretary Abul Kalam Azad Majumder was present at the briefing.