Prices of essentials are tolerable, Munshi tells Parliament

Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi on Thursday claimed that the prices of daily necessities are now at tolerable levels.

Replying to a question from Mujibul Huq, Jatiya Party MP (Kishoreganj), Tipu said that a number of steps have been taken to keep the price of daily essential commodities within the reach of the consumers.

In response to another question from Ebadul Karim, Awami League MP (Brahmanbaria) the commerce minister said that Bangladesh exported goods to 203 countries in the FY 2021-22.

Out of these, Bangladesh has a trade deficit with 91 countries and favourable balance with 112 countries.

In the FY2021-22, the exports amounted to $60,971.26 million compared to imports worth $82,500 million.

That means the trade deficit in FY021-22 was $21,528.74 million.

Responding to Awami League MP from Dhaka Benazir Ahmed, the minister said that the trade deficit with the SAARC countries in the FY2021-22 stood at $11,986.98 million.

In the FY2021-22, the trade deficit with China was $19,353.37 million.

The minister said that some 8930 products (98 percent) have received duty-free quota-free access to the Chinese market due to the government’s efforts from September 1.

As a result, exports to China will increase and the trade deficit will decrease, he said.

In response to AL MP elected from Bhola Ali Azam, Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder said that Until August 30 the country had 19,50,531 tonnes of food grains in stocks.

He said that the government has gone for G2G system to import wheat from Russia and rice from India, Myanmar and Vietnam.

In response to another question from the same MP, the food minister said that the total food grain consumption of 16.52 crore people of the country is 233.35 lakh tonnes.

Of these 221.41 lakh tonnes are rice and 11.94 lakh tonnes of wheat.

In FY 2021-22, the production of food grains was 389.29 lakh tonnes, more than the demand.

Stating that there is no possibility of food crisis in the country, the minister said that according to the National Food and Nutrition Security Policy, 10.5 million tonnes of food grains are supposed to be kept in safety stock, but currently there is more in stock than this.

In response to Jatiya Party MP elected from Pirojpur Rustam Ali Faraji, the food minister said that in FY22, 15,44,145.8 tonnes of rice, 19,95,539.6 tonnes of edible oil, 699,129.3 tonnes of onions and 54,237.6 tonnes of garlic have been imported.

In response to Jatiya Party MP elected from Rangpur Mashiur Rahman Ranga, the minister said that in FY 2021-22, 67,02,688.5 tonnes of wheat, 27,77,468.8 tonnes of oilseeds, 27,08,049 tonnes of sugar, 3,63,107.5 tonnes of spices, 12,48,392.7 tonnes of pulses, 12,36,131.4 tonnes of fruits, 1,56,246.2 tonnes of dairy products have been imported.

In response to the question of AL MP from reserved woman seat Begum Nazma Akhtar, Expatriate Welfare Minister Imran Ahmed said 4,08,408 workers have returned from abroad in 2020 during the Corona period. Besides, in 2021 some 34, 494 workers have returned without pass till May.

In response to AL MP elected from Buola Nurunnabi Chowdhury, Imran said that some 73,19,316 workers have been sent to different countries of the world from FY2008-2009 to FY 2020-21.

According to the information of the minister, the highest number of people went abroad in the FY2016-17. The number is 8,93,739 people.

And the lowest number is 2,71,445 people went in FY 2020-21.