Finance Minister AMA Muhith said Thursday that the government had no immediate plan to increase the fuel price.
"We have no immediate plan to raise the fuel price. If needed we would adjust the price with the international market," he told the media after a cabinet committee meeting on purchase at the cabinet division on the day.
The cabinet purchase committee approved separate proposals for import of some 1.620 million metric tonnes of refined petroleum fuels from eight international petroleum companies at a total cost of Tk 110.98 billion.
The premium for diesel was fixed at US $ 4.80 per barrel while that of furnace oil at $ 34 per metric tonnes down from dollar 35 per metric tonnes for the first half (January- June).
The state- owned Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation will import the bulk petroleum to meet the country's demand for the second half (July - December) of the current year.
The minister said the Ministry of Power and Energy would propose the adjustment of fuel price keeping pace with the international market.
Asked whether the government would adjust the fuel price as per the suggestions of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the finance minister said, "It is our programme… not of the IMF".
About the fund mobilisation for the construction of Padma Multipurpose Bridge, he said the government would build the Padma Bridge by its own fund.
"We will build Padma Bridge by our own fund. We are working on it," he said.
Asked whether the government would mobilise the fund through issuing bond for Padma Bridge, the finance minister said, "We would not depend on bond for building Padma. We have allocated Tk 850 billion for our development programme this year. So out of the amount…. Tk 50 billion for Padma Bridge project is not a big deal for us".
Presided over by the Finance Minister the cabinet committee approved a total of 10 projects that include purchase of fuel by the government arrangement from Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and Philippines. It also approved construction of five ten-storied buildings at Dayaganj for accommodation of Dhaka City Corporation cleaners and 520.60 metre long bridge on the river Daleshwari on Nagarpur- Mirzapur via Mokna road in Tangail.
Agriculture Minister Begum Matia Chowdhury, Post, Telecommunications and Information Technology Minister Abdul Latif Sidddique, Housing and Public Works Minister Engineer Mosharraf Hossain, among others, were present in the meeting.
