Food Minister Qamrul Islam said the move would tame corrupt traders who may try to raise the price. “We imposed the tax after some corrupt traders started importing rice for earning extra profit.”“We have advised the government to scrap the tax for the time being,” Islam said. Bangladesh has a surplus of about 2 million tonnes of rice, while the annual demand is about 30 million tonnes, according to the minister. Minister Qamrul vowed to take stern action against anyone found trying to create a “pseudo crisis” in the rice market. “They suffered a lot when 1.5 million tonnes of rice were imported from India without tax.”

Source: bd News24 May 04, 2017 12:45 UTC