No immediate threat seen

The price of crude oil on the international market hit a nine-month high Thursday at   $115.01 per barrel giving rise to fear about its impact locally.

Many have expressed fear that if the situation further deteriorated in Iraq amid a rebel putsch, it might push up the international oil prices leading to a rise in domestic prices of the same.

Chairman of Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation Yunusur Rahman told The Financial Express Friday that they were watching the developments. "There is no immediate cause of concern. But if the crisis persists, it may obviously have an impact. It is too early to say," he said.

He said oil price on the world market had almost been stable over the past one and a half years. Meanwhile, the government was working to reduce the overall subsidy which is paid for reducing the gap between the import price and the government-administered lower selling rate.

Any prolonged crisis might cause a setback to the subsidy cutbacks, he said.  

Brent rose 75 cents a barrel to settle at its highest Thursday on the US market since September 9. It had hit $115.71 per barrel on the earlier occasion.

The BPC chairman said any decision on fuel-oil prices always comes from the Ministry of Finance. Whether or not there be any pressure from the donor agencies like the World Bank or the IMF is also a matter dealt with by the Ministry, he said.

To allay fear Mr Yunusur Rahman said that the country had enough stock, and the supply and price issues were two different things. He said subsidy on oil had significantly come down and in the outgoing fiscal it may stand between Tk 3,000 and 3,500 crore up from Tk 10,000 crore several years ago.