Controlling price hike of daily essentials is a challenge: CPD

It is now a big challenge to control price hike of daily essentials as poor people suffer due to inflation, the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) said. The civil society think tank came up with the observation while presenting some recommendations at a budget discussion for the next fiscal year (FY23) at its office in the capital on Tuesday.

Dr. Fahmida Khatun, CPD's Executive Director, read out the budget proposals, while professor Mustafizur Rahman, distinguish fellow of CPD, Khondaker Golam Moazzem, research director and Towfiqul Islam Khan, senior research fellow, replied to queries from reporters about the recommendations.

Fahmid Khatun said that the government should cut duties and taxes on essential commodities to ease inflation and provide relief to lower and middle-income people of the country.

She also said that the high level of prices was expected to continue for the remainder of the ongoing 2021-22 fiscal year and at least the early months into the next fiscal."So, controlling the prices of essentials should be the most urgent and critically important macroeconomic policy objective in Bangladesh," she added.The think tank further suggested reducing import tariffs, value-added taxes and other taxes to reduce prices.