DHAKA, Jan 18, 2024 (BSS) - Businessmen have assured of ensuring uninterrupted supply of essential commodities in the country including sugar and edible oil during the Holy Month of Ramadan.

They gave such assurance to State Minister for Commerce Ahsanul Islam Tito held at the Ministry of Commerce at Bangladesh Secretariat today.

The meeting was convened to review the import, stock and price situation of edible oil and sugar ahead of the ensuing Month of Ramadan.

Emerging from the meeting, the state minister said, "Our main goal is to ensure the supply of essential items in the kitchen market. For this, we held discussions with the suppliers of essentials today and the discussion was very fruitful. The businessmen have assured that they will ensure the supply of essential items including edible oil and sugar in the market especially during the month of Ramadan,"

He also said that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has already instructed that no one could stockpile essential items and thus could create an artificial crisis. "If anyone stockpiles goods artificially, then stern action will be taken against that businessman,"

Ahsanul said it was his belief that all the businessmen in the country are patriots. "I want to forget the use of the word 'syndicate' with the help of the businessmen. We want to build syndicate-free smart market management. We want to build consumer-friendly Ministry of Commerce," he said. 
 
The government, he said, wants to establish such a market management where there would be no problem in the supply of goods in the country unless there is a major disaster in the global context.

In the meeting, the top business leaders of the country highlighted the dollar crisis in case of imports as well as the gas crisis and thus said that if the government provides uninterrupted gas, then there will be no shortage of any product in the country. 

Meanwhile, the State Minister for Commerce said that he would try his best to solve the dollar crisis by talking with the Ministry of Finance and with the Energy and Mineral Resources Division to address the shortage of gas.