Prices of essentials will come down:  State Minister for Commerce

State Minister for Commerce Ahsanul Islam Titu has said that prices essential items  will come down as duty or tax have been reduced on 172 items in the proposed budget.

The State Minister for Commerce said this while replying to a question at a post-budget press conference at Osmani Memorial Auditorium in the capital on Friday afternoon.

Finance Minister AH Mahmood Ali moderated the press conference and replied various queries of reporters. 

Planning Minister Major General (retd) Abdus Salam, Industries Minister Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayun, Agriculture Minister Md Abdus Shaheed, LGRD Minister Md Tajul Islam, Housing and Public Works Minister RAM Obaidul Muktadir Chowdhury, Education Minister Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury Nowfel, Prime Minister's Economic Affairs Adviser Dr Mashiur Rahman, State Minister for Finance Waseqa Ayesha Khan, Bangladesh Bank Governor Abdur Rouf Talukder and NBR Chairman Abu Hena Md Rahmatul Muneem were present.

Finance Division Secretary Md Khairuzzaman Mozumder accompanied and assisted the Finance Minister at the press conference.
The government will try to continue providing essential items to common and low income group people at subsidized and fair prices through setting up permanent shops for the dealers of the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB), he said.

Mentioning that the government has reduced the duty on imports of essentials like rice, lentil, chickpeas at 1 percent from 2 percent, Ahsanul said such move would help to keep the prices of such items at tolerable level.