Bangladesh, once India’s close friend, forced to buy Indian goods from Dubai at much higher prices

to economists, importing rice through Dubai incurs additional costs, which is a waste of public money. Dubai is not a rice-producing country; instead, it imports rice from India and re-exports it. Although there is an opportunity to import rice directly from India, the Yunus government’s decision to purchase through an intermediary company has raised questions. According to a report published on bddigest.com, Mohammad Moniruzzaman, Director of the Procurement Division of the Bangladesh Food Ministry, stated, “The rice supplier’s office is in Dubai, but the actual source of the rice is India.” On October 22, the Government Procurement Advisory Council approved the purchase of a total of 100,000 tons of rice from Myanmar and Dubai. 50,000 tons of Atap rice will be purchased from Myanmar, and 50,000 tons of non-basmati parboiled rice from Dubai. The total cost will be 446.23 crore taka. Regarding the need to import rice, Moniruzzaman said, “We have sufficient rice reserves. However, ...