Monthly food cost for family of 4 soars to Tk 22,421: CPD

A family of four in Dhaka has to spend at least  Tk9,059 a month on meals without fish and meat but it cost Tk22,421 with fish and meat in October.
Families in Dhaka are struggling to make two ends meet and many of them omitted fish and meat from their daily menu, the Center for Policy Dialogue (CPD)'s Executive Director Fahmida Khatun said at a news  conference while briefing the media on 'Global Recession and How Bangladesh Would Overcome the Challenges before it,' at a news conference in the city on Thursday
According to CPD, in January 2019, it cost a family of four in Dhaka including food Tk17,530 which soared to Tk 22,421 by October
In October, the minimum expenditure for a family of four  excluding fish and meat increased to Tk9,059 from  Tk6,541 in January.
The CPD called for slashing import duty on essentials  and raising salaries in private sector to adjust with inflationary pressure on food.
It said that a five per cent increase in salaries would not be enough.
Along with salary increases Open Market Sales (OMS) of the government should be expanded together with cash assistance to poor and ultra poor groups.
The CDP suggested for slashing fuel prices and expanding     the tax net.
In her keynote paper, Fahmida Khatun said the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) predicted that the world was headed to famine.
She said that the FAO had correctly made the prediction as climate change was disrupting crop  production.
She said that Bangladesh was facing dollar crisis, energy crisis, inflation, food crisis, Russia-Ukraine conflict crisis, covid and climate change crisis.
CPD research director Khandaker Golam Moazzem and research fellow Toufiqul Islam Khan were  present.