Dear Alochoks,
I find some measures of the present government to
contain grocery prices grossly erroneous. A recent
story in The Daily Star headlined "Drive at Kitchen
Markets" is particularly disturbing. They are doing
exactly what they should refrain from doing - forcing
the vendors to sell their merchandise at a given price
unrelated to prevailing market price.
Such measures are bound to scare the vendors away from
the market and cause further scarcity of commodities.
And it's common knowledge what consequences this will
bring about - further price aggravation. The policy
makers are perhaps doing it knowingly to gain cheap
popularity. They know very well the measure might give
some temporary relief to a few consumers for a
transitory period. The overall impact of this measure
will be detrimental for a free market economy to
flourish.
No government can expect the producers or its business
community to subsidize the consumers. If a situation
justifies subsidy for certain commodities for a period
of time, the government is responsible to provide it.
And it should be done in a way so that it benefits
only the poor lacking purchasing power. Otherwise, the
measure will distort the market and will work as a
disincentive for traders to operate their business.
Again, the consequences are well known - price
aggravation since it undermines competitiveness in the
market. In economic terms, the market will tend to
turn oligopolistic.
The government should instead make all out effort to
boost supplies in the market. Measures like opening up
import of the commodities, reduction or waiving of
import duties, removal of red tapism in import
procedures, provision of LC opening at lower margins
and improvement of transportation facilities from
production sites and the ports. Such measures should
help augment supply of basic daily essentials in the
market. In the longer haul, the administration should
do whatever it takes to promote production of the
commodities in short supply.It's common knowledge that
supply and demand determines market prices of
merchandise. No outlandish measures will do the trick.
In the interim, the administration may sell the pricey
daily essentials at subsidized rates through conduits
easily accessible by the poor consumers to ameliorate
their hardship. It should be designed in a way so that
the poor and I repeat, only the poor, find access to
such subsidized sales. And once again, this measure
must be treated as an an interim measure and should be
suspended as soon as the price situation improves.
There is, however, nothing wrong with punishing the
unscrupulous vendors selling rotten or adulterated
products or tampering with the weighing scales.
Government measure to root out such unethical
practices is commendable and should persist until the
market is freed of such elements.
ASM Jahangir
Virginia, USA
____________________________________________________________________________________
Got a little couch potato?
Check out fun summer activities for kids.
http://search.yahoo.com/search?fr=oni_on_mail&p=summer+activities+for+kids&cs=bz
[Disclaimer: ALOCHONA Management is not liable for information contained in this message. The author takes full responsibility.]
To unsubscribe/subscribe, send request to alochona-owner@egroups.com
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/alochona/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/alochona/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
mailto:alochona-digest@yahoogroups.com
mailto:alochona-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
alochona-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: