The government reduced the prices of diesel, octane, petrol and kerosene by Tk 5.0 per litre on Monday - after the National Board of Revenue (NBR) slashed import tax and advance income tax (AIT) on oil import.
The new oil prices came into effect after Monday midnight.
The government slashed the oil prices through an executive order after 24 days of the previous hike on August 05 that witnessed up to 51.68 per cent hike.
With the reduction, the new price of diesel and kerosene is Tk 109 per litre from the previous Tk 114 per litre, meaning a cut by 4.38 per cent.
New octane price is Tk 130 per litre instead of the previous Tk 135 per litre, a deduction by 3.70 per cent; and petrol price is now Tk 125 per litre instead of the previous Tk 130 per litre, a 3.84 per cent cut.
The decision to cut oil prices came hours after the comments of Nasrul Hamid, state minister for the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources (MPEMR), to newsmen over the possibility to reduce oil prices.
"The decision of lowering oil prices may come by today or tomorrow," he said at his office in the secretariat on Monday morning.
The MPEMR was now evaluating the extent of reducing the oil prices, as the NBR offered some tax benefits, he added.
"The import taxes should have been reduced before the August hike of oil prices, which could reduce the extent of the hike," Ijaz Hossain, an energy expert and Professor of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), told the FE.
"Will the transport owners reduce fares now? If not, the commoners will not be benefitted from the fuel price deduction."
"This is madness from the government. They previously had raised oil prices without considering its consequences on the commoners," he added.
Only the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) has the authority to either hike or reduce petroleum prices after conducting public hearing, said Professor M Shamsul Alam, energy adviser of the Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB).
He demanded audit of the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation's (BPC) operations during the past 13 years from 2009 to 2022 by a renowned audit firm.
The BPC and the MPEMR are violating the BERC rules, Mr Alam added.
The government, through an executive order on August 05, raised the prices of refined petroleum products by up to 51.68 per cent. It fuelled up transportation costs, and prices of almost all essential commodities soared significantly in local market as the consequences.
The government raised the mostly used diesel and less used kerosene prices by 42.5 per cent to Tk 114 per litre from the previous Tk 80 per litre.
The government also raised the price of octane by 51.68 per cent to Tk 135 per litre from the previous Tk 89 per litre, and the price of petrol by 51.16 per cent to Tk 130 per litre from the previous Tk 86 per litre.
Sources said the NBR now reduced overall import taxes by 11.25 per cent to 22.75 per cent on diesel, specified as light diesel oils and high-speed diesel oils in the customs tariff schedule until December 31, 2022.
The reduced import taxes came into effect from Sunday (August 28).
The NBR's Customs Wing issued a statutory regulatory order (SRO) on Sunday on reducing import taxes from the previous 34 per cent.
After the August 05 hike, the BPC estimated to initiate attaining profit worth around Tk 2.05 billion in the very first month of hiking oil prices by selling only diesel and octane to end users, if it could have US dollar at bank rates, BPC Chairman A B M Azad said.
The BPC was then attaining profit worth Tk 25 per litre by selling octane and Tk 20 per litre by selling petrol, he added.
No BPC official was, however, available to comment on Monday over its latest fiscal situation following the oil price reduction.
The corporation currently imports around 5.0 million tonnes of diesel, 1.30 million tonnes of crude oil, 600,000 tonnes of jet fuel, 300,000 tonnes of octane, 500,000 tonnes of furnace oil, and 120,000 tonnes of marine fuel annually.
Azizjst@yahoo.com
