The Finance Minister of Bangladesh, Mirza Azizul Islam has urged company owners to spend some of their profits to subsidise food for workers to defuse mounting tensions over soaring prices. "It is the time for the rich to help the poor of the society," the Minister said late Friday, the state-run BSS news agency quoted him.
"The poor will benefit if private companies distribute subsidised food to their workers," Islam said. Existing corporate culture "should be changed for the welfare of the deprived," he added.
One of the world's poorest nations Bangladesh, 40 percent population out of 144 million is living under the poverty line. Islam's call come amid rising tensions in the key garments industry that accounts for three-fourths of the country's annual exports.
Twenty thousand textile workers rioted over low wages and high food prices last week as rice prices have doubled in Bangladesh in the past year, in part due to devastating floods and a massive cyclone in 2007, forcing millions to depend on the government's free and subsidised food distribution system. Meanwhile, the Bangladesh government has moved to import more rice and sell it at subsidised prices on the open market to tame food crisis.
Comments
Comments are closed.