They said the current inflation rate is higher than ever. They were speaking at the seminar titled 'Price Hike of Essential Commodities and Livelihood' held at Bangladesh Unnayan Parishad (BUP) auditorium in Dhaka.

Society for International Development (SID), Bangladesh Chapter, organised the seminar.

Prof M M Akash of Dhaka University presented the keynote paper in the seminar, which was presided over by former education minister ASHK Sadique.

SM Al Hossainy, former chairman of Public Service Commission, A Karim, managing director of MIDAS, Faruk Uddin Ahmad, former advisor to Bangladesh Bank, and Kazi Saleh Uddin Ahmed, former vice-chancellor of Jahangir Nagar University, also spoke.

M M Akash said, "Price of rice in the international market increased by 27.56 percent, oil by 54.41 percent and sugar by 90.40 percent between 2002 and 2005. But unfortunately, the price of the same products increased by 100 to 200 percent in the local market during the same period".

According to an IMF (International Monetary Fund) study, he said, "The inflation rate of the first quarter of the current fiscal was 7.4, which is higher than that of any other period."

"The recent incidents of Kansat and violence in the garment sector are the reflections of public anger against the price hike," he said.

He, however, said although per capita income of a person has been increased in the last few years, poor people, especially the labourer class, did not benefit from it.

The price of essentials does not match with the income of the majority people of the country, said ASHK Sadique.

He said," About 4.4 crore extreme poor of the country are the worst victims of the price spiral."