Increased the cost of transportation and the price of food. Low-income groups are eliminating meat and fish from the diet. According to one study, more than 2 million people have fallen below the poverty line. Protests begin at service stations.
Dhaka () – The price of fuel has increased by 51.7% in Bangladesh and, according to local media, it is the largest increase the country has ever recorded. It not only increased the cost of transportation but of all other goods. More and more people are having to give up three meals a day and even the middle class is starting to struggle to make ends meet.
Many are forced to eliminate meat and fish from their diet. Retail prices have risen from 5 to 15 takas (around 5 and 15 euro cents) and you can’t get rice for less than 55 takas per kg. The average salary in Bangladesh is around 270 euros.
The vice president of the Bangladesh Rice Traders Association explained that everything is due to the increase in the price of oil: “It has pushed up transportation costs, but in the coming days it will also increase the cost of production at the farmers’ level.”
In all the main markets of the capital (Karwan Bazar, Babubazar, Shyambazar and Joarsahar Bazar) the price of staple foods increased.
Amjad Hossain sells chickens in the Karwan Bazar market. He tells that the price of chicken has risen by 20 takas in the last three days due to the increase in transportation costs and the decrease in the supply of chicken in the market. “Chicken meat is now selling at 170-180 takas per kg, when three days ago it was 150-160 takas. Domestic chickens that used to sell at 530 takas now cost at least 550 takas.”
Low-income people cut costs by switching their diets: “All the prices of everyday consumer goods have gone up. If before I ate fish three times a week, now I only eat once,” said Mamunur Rashid, a cleaner at an office in Dhaka. His family consists of six members and only twice a month can he buy meat.
In June, a joint study by the Power and Participation Research Center and Brac, an anti-poverty NGO, noted that inflation and rising commodity prices have pushed more than 2 million people into poverty in Bangladesh. Already in 2019 more than 20% of the population lived below the poverty line.
Several civil society groups have begun to protest against the increase in prices at gas stations. In recent days long queues have formed waiting to get gasoline.
Although Bangladesh is a rapidly growing economy, rising energy and food prices have forced the country to seek loans from international lending institutions, such as the International Monetary Fund, in order to maintain imports.
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