They’re playing to win every day staples like rice, oil, sugar, lentils and other items that soaring inflation has put beyond their reach. Courtesy Omar Sunny Somrat/SS Food ChallengeThe combination of colorful games and the feel-good factor of nobody going home empty-handed has given Somrat a genuine hit. Courtesy Omar Sunny Somrat/SS Food ChallengeBy 2021, he began organizing contests for village kids competing in games and winning prizes like home appliances. A year later, though, he stumbled onto the winning formula when food prices soared and the Bangladeshi currency, the taka, depreciated in value against the US dollar. Between 2022 and 2023, food prices in Bangladesh jumped by 9%, the highest average rate in 12 years, according to the country’s Bureau of Statistics.

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Persons: Mohammad Abdur Rouf, can’t, I’d, Omar Sunny Somrat Abdur —, —, Omar Sunny Somrat, They’re, “ It’s, ” Somrat, Somrat, ”, taka, Munir Uz Zaman, Ruchir Desai, Desai, Asma Khatun Organizations: CNN, SS, SS Food, Bank, YouTube, Facebook, greenback, country’s, Statistics, Getty, Asia Frontier Investments, International Monetary Fund Locations: Chapra, Bangladesh, Ukraine, Banwarinagar, Pabna, Purandarpur, Pabna District, Dhaka, AFP