Competition commission needs to be more efficient to check commodity prices: experts
Raising efficiency level of the Bangladesh Competition Commission is needed to reap the benefits of the competition law, as the law is new to Bangladesh, experts said on Saturday.
At a discussion on product pricing, market management and competition organised by the Bangladesh Intellectual Property Forum at Daily Star Center at Kawran Bazar in the capital Dhaka, they said that along with strengthening the commission, proper enforcement of competition laws should be ensured for the interests of consumers.
East West University professor AK Enamul Haque highlighted the failures of the market regulatory commissions saying that many things, including unfair competition, market syndicates and fraudulence activities caused price hike of commodities.
He said, ‘Decreasing uncertainty on market management process is very important. Making others responsible on own regulatory failures will only increase it.’
Former Bangladesh Competition Commission director Khaled Abu Nasser said that producers, suppliers and consumers could all benefit from creating a strong market system by ensuring supply of products in proportion to market demand and creating an innovation and investment- friendly environment and maintaining a competitive environment.
Columnist Gauhar Naeem Wara said that every law in the country was against the poor.
‘Think of the farmers with no awareness on the market management. It is the duty of the administrative officers from top to the upazila level to bring the marketing system to the farmers,’ he said.
‘Landowners get the government incentives for the farmers, marginal farmers will never come under market control without incentives,’ he added.
Bangladesh IP Forum chief executive and former additional secretary Manjurur Rahman moderated the discussion.
