More than five lakh people are poor

source: prothom alo

In the last few months, only 5 lakh 20 thousand people became poor due to the rise in rice prices. Earlier, they were on the poverty line, now have fallen below the poverty line. Alongside flooding, rice prices have increased by 30 percent in the last few months due to problems in the timely import and supply system. In this, a large number of people fell below the poverty line. This resulted in 3.2 percent poverty increase

On Saturday, these information was given by the private research firm South Asian Network on Economic Modeling or Quamble Review of Bangladesh Economics of Bangladesh. Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), poverty rate was 26.3 percent in 2016.

Sanam organized a press conference at the BRAC Center in the capital on publication of the report. In this speech, Sanam executive director Selim Raihan said. At the time, other researchers from Sanyam were present. Sanem says, as of December 21, the price of chicken rice is 58 to 68 taka, medium-quality rice is Tk 48 to 56 and the fat rice price is 44 to 46 taka.

Asked about this, General Secretary of the Planning Commission (GED) member Shamsul Alam said in the first light, "It is true, the price of rice increases the poverty of the poor people, many go down under the poverty line. Because the people living below the poverty line spend the money to buy food, 80 percent of them have to spend on the purchase of rice. Theoretically the Saan Report may be right. It is to be seen, among the 3 million and eight million poor people, there are no more than 5 lakhs. If the prices of rice decrease, they will again rise above the poverty line. It's not so worrisome. He said the government took social security programs. There is a variety of initiatives including the purchase of 1 kg of rice at 10 rupees, and at low prices open market ration selling.

Salim Raihan said at the press conference, the price of rice increased despite import. It is quite alarming. Rice production is less due to the flood. With the increase in the price of rice, the poor people did not get the time to adjust their income by increasing their income. They dropped below the poverty line. As the reason for the increase in rice prices, he said, the import of rice was not imported on time. It took a lot of time to get out of the market after the rice came to Chittagong port. There was a problem in the whole supply system. The price of rice has increased.
Saenem feared, the price of rice in the international market is increasing. It may increase import expenditure in the coming days. In July-September of this fiscal year, rice and rice worth Tk 2,922 billion were imported during these three months. Last time rice imported only 35 crores was imported. The amount of money that was imported in the first three months of this fiscal year, is about 5 times the import cost of rice in the last fiscal year.

Meanwhile, at Karwan Bazar in the afternoon yesterday, Nazirshal rice was sold at Tk 63 to Tk 68. Minicet price is between Tk 52 and Rs 58. Thick rice is not available for Tk 44 less. In the last two weeks, the cost of all kind of kiapati is increased by 2-3 paisa.

In the press conference Saenem said, increasing bank scam and bank loan credit is very worrisome. This is largely because of weak supervision and political patronage. Sanam thinks that the approval of the board's board of directors to allow the members of the same family to remain members of the same family for 9 years can make the banking sector more fragile. To overcome the current situation, it is necessary to speed up the political will, proper control system, empowerment of Bangladesh Bank and speedy prosecution of financial sector.

In the year 2018, there are five challenges for the economy: Saenem. These are: a further slowdown in private investment in the political uncertainty created before the national election; Rising food inflation; Moving forward to achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs), the challenge of increasing export and remittance and the prevention of irregularities in managing the bank sector.