Govt won't raise fuel oil prices

FE Team | Published: June 20, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

M Azizur Rahman
The government will not make any upward revision in petroleum prices in the local market despite the recent rise in the prices of the same in the international market.
"Though the prices of petroleum products have gone up recently in the international market we are not going to increase the prices of the same in near future," Energy and Power Adviser Tapan Chowdhury said Tuesday.
He said the government hiked the petroleum prices in April last to make adjustment to rising prices of the item in the international market.
The Energy and Mineral Resources Division (EMRD) subsequently constituted a eight-member committee to monitor oil prices in the international market and recommend necessary adjustments locally.
The fuel oil price fixation committee is, however, has not met even once to discuss developments over petroleum prices in the international market and recommend adjustments.
As a consequence of the soaring oil prices, the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) has already incurred a financial loss of over Tk 1.50 billion last month, a senior EMRD official said.
If the current uptrend in prices of petroleum products continues in the international market the BPC's loss might swell up further, he added.
This might also frustrate the government's recent drive to bail out the state-run BPC from its huge debts.
The government has planned to assume the BPC's accumulated loans worth Tk 75.23 billion as its own liability by issuing bonds of equivalent amount.