Commerce ministry decides amid price hike
The commerce ministry on Thursday decided that the government would provide agricultural loans at 4 per cent interest to onion producers to increase the production of the commodity to meet annual demand for the item in the country, officials said.
They said the ministry made the decision as it was expecting no let-up in the price spiral of the product in the domestic markets very soon.
Officials said it would take at least another one month to get Indian onion in big volume while new yield of the local onion will be available in the market after mid-December.
The government will also take steps to stop sales of onion sets which are usually planted for getting matured onion, they said.
At a meeting with onion importers, traders and other stakeholders including different government ministries and agencies, the commerce ministry also took several decisions to facilitate import of the product, particularly from Myanmar.
The ministry will ask the port authorities to reduce charges on the imported onion to keep the already overheated domestic market stable.
The government will also provide protection to onion-loaded trucks during hartals and other political unrest, the meeting decided.
Currently traders face lots of problems in importing onion from Myanmar in an absence of formal banking transactions.
Teknaf-based onion importers alleged that they can not import onion in big volume as the government allows them to send only $10,000 through each bank draft as import bill.
The meeting presided over by commerce secretary Mahbub Ahmed decided to discuss with Myanmar the matter for immediate removal of restrictions related to banking transactions for facilitating import of the product from the neighbouring country, officials said.
A commerce ministry official said, ‘For importing onion from Myanmar, the upper limit of bank draft amount will be raised to $50,000.’
He said the ministry would also request the agriculture ministry for taking initiatives to increase onion production and for inventing technologies so that farmers can produce onion all the year round and the country can reduce dependency on import of the item.
Agriculture ministry and Bangladesh Bank will also be asked to take immediate steps for ensuring that farmers can get loans at 4 per cent interest for onion production, he said.
Currently producers of some spices get loans at 4 per cent interest under agriculture loan.
Representatives from agriculture ministry, Bangladesh Bank, National Security Intelligence, Bangladesh Tariff Commission, Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection, Trading Corporation of Bangladesh attended the meeting.
-With New Age input
