Bangladesh rations food

BANGLADESH: The Bangladeshi government will sell rice at subsidized rate to poor people at rural and urban areas in different parts of the country from next month, food minister said on Wednesday.

After a meeting on food issue here on Sunday, Food Minister Abdur Razzaque told reporters that the ministry has fixed 18 taka (about 25.7 U.S. cents) per kilogram of rice through government dealers.

The decision came weeks after the government's announcement to provide rice at subsidized rate to garments workers from May.

"As part of our efforts to ensure food security for all we've decided to sale rice at subsidized rate to poor people despite prices of the same dropped in local market recently," the minister said.

"Sales of rice at subsidized rate will begin on April 1 and will run across the country throughout the month," Razzaque said, adding, "One people will be allowed to buy 5 kg rice at a time in a day."

According to the Ministry of Food and Disaster Management, the country's public food distribution budget for the current fiscal year (July 2008-June 2009) has been set at 2.12 million tons. Dhaka, Thursday, Xinhua