The sale of essentials at subsidised prices under the OMS programme has been halted in Lalmonirhat and Kurigram since Thursday, putting several thousand poor families in distress.

Bangladesh Bank yesterday asked private banks to speed up their farm loan disbursements to enhance the country’s food security.

Agriculture Minister Dr Md Abdur Razzaque today said after discussing the food situation in Bangladesh, World Food Programme Country Director Domenico Scalpelli has said that there is no possibility of famine.

The food ministry has increased the prices of both loose and packet wheat flour by Tk 6 per kg at the open market sale.

Bangladesh Bank today formed a Tk 5,000 crore refinance scheme to ensure food security in the country as the banking regulator thinks the world might face a food crisis in the days to come.

The Bangladesh Food Safety Authority (BFSA) has started issuing health certificates to facilitate export of food products from the country.

Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder today (November 5, 2022) said the country has enough food grains in stock and there will be no possibility of a famine.

The government will enact a law to stop polishing of rice as it loses its inherited nutritional value in the process, Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder said today.

The government has set a target to procure 3 lakh metric tonnes of Aman paddy and 5 lakh MT of boiled rice in the upcoming season.

Nine-year-old Pramila Chepang from Benighat-Rorang Rural Municipality weighs just 13 kilograms, which indicates that the girl has been suffering from a severe form of malnutrition.

The Directorate of National Consumers Right Protection has identified seven reasons behind the price hike and shortage of sugar, including gas crisis, not mentioning price in sales invoices and complications in opening letters of credit.

Sugar has become dearer with prices going up by Tk 15 a kg at retail markets as millers cut supplies blaming insufficient gas flow at refineries.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today renewed her call to raise food production and bring fallow lands under cultivation to protect Bangladesh from the brunt of looming food crisis worldwide.

Bangladesh has been ranked 84th in the Global Hunger Index 2022, among 121 qualifying countries.

The government yesterday increased the retail price of sugar by Tk 6 a kg citing high import costs due to dollars getting dearer.

Refiners yesterday slashed retail prices of soybean oil by Tk 14 a litre as its prices in the international market dropped and the government kept the reduced Value Added Tax (VAT) on it.

Whenever the price of a commodity increases in the local market, the traders and wholesalers have the readymade excuse of a price hike in the international market. But a recent study by an intelligence agency found their justification to be unsubstantiated.

Bangladesh Competition Commission has filed 44 cases against a host of individuals and organisations, accusing them of creating an artificial crisis that led to abnormal hikes in prices of items like rice, flour, eggs, poultry and toiletries.

A Chattogram court today (September 20, 2022) sentenced Nurjahan group Chairman and Managing Director Zahir Ahammed to one year in jail and fined him Tk 2.5 lakh in a case filed by BSTI for marketing low-quality edible oil.

After over two weeks of deliberation, Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi yesterday said the prices of rice, lentil, flour, onion and five other daily essentials should be fixed by the agricultural ministry, not the commerce ministry.