"Supervision and monitoring of the commerce ministry is not in a good way now, though it was in the past," Saifur told reporters emerging from a meeting of Coordination Council adding that it was possible for the ministry (commerce) to check market manipulation by sincere administrative measures.

Central bank governor and secretaries of the finance and commerce among other high officials attended the meeting on government policies for fiscal, currency and money exchange rate. A working paper on administrative measures to remove barriers against competitive market system was also presented at the meeting by the Bangladesh Bank.

The minister also briefed the newsmen about monetary policy, fuel price, revenue collection and government borrowing from banking system.

Saifur said the commerce ministry largely depends on the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB), instead of improving its supervision activities on market.

"The TCB itself is a trader...How will it monitor the market when its goal is to make profit?" he said.

Referring to the situation in neighbouring India, the minister said traders there do not increase the prices through syndication. "Whereas in Bangladesh, some unscrupulous traders manipulate the prices for no reason," he said adding that as a result, price of onion jumps to Tk 28 from Tk 18 in only one day.

Asked about the government's efforts to keep the market stable, Saifur replied that they have already instructed the home and commerce ministries to look into the matter.

The working paper submitted by the Bangladesh Bank suggested effective administrative measures to eliminate obstacles and different pressures against competitive market system for different products at import and distribution stages.

The paper also advised the government to find new internal sources of revenue to offset an accumulated loss stemming from petroleum fuel and fertiliser subsidies, adding that the government continue the ongoing tight monetary policy.

An immediate initiative to check the smuggling in subsidised fertiliser and diesel and maintain smooth supply of products will help curb inflation, the central bank said.

Saifur favoured the government's current tight monetary policy and said the ministry will not allow anymore subsidy from the budget to adjust accumulated loss stemming from petroleum fuel.

Although the price of fuel was increased slightly in the last budget, it is still far lower than the international price, the minister said adding "We will have to adjust the fuel price." He, however, did not make any specific comment as to when it will be increased.

Sources said the meeting asked the National Board of Revenue (NBR) to increase revenue collection in a bid to reduce public sector borrowing from the banking sector.