Let consumers enjoy benefits of automated fuel pricing

Petroleum fuel prices saw a big upward push a year and a half back, on August 28, 2022 to be precise, by 42 per cent so they could be kept in step with the international fuel market. The government at the same time also assured that the prices would be readjusted downwards as soon as the prices of fossil fuels decline in the international market. But that has not happened so far though the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC), the sole government agency to import, market and distribute fuel oils and petroleum products, made huge profits out of that price increase. Reassuringly, going by the words of the state minister for power, energy and mineral resources, as reported in the media recently, the petroleum fuel prices might go down with the implementation of the so-called'Fuel Pricing Guidelines' announced by the government through a gazette notification on February 29.
As per the guidelines so announced, the prices of petroleum fuels including diesel, petrol, octane, kerosene, furnace oil, jet fuel, marine fuels could be automatically adjusted on a monthly basis in keeping with international prices of those items. However, such automatic pricing would include adjustments of various charges such as import duty, other taxes as well as BPC's margin, according to the government officials concerned. The automatic pricing regime for petroleum fuels will directly benefit the consumers and have a sobering influence on economy, provided the international oil market does not suddenly get jittery.
Understandably, this government decision to keep domestic fuel oil prices tied to those of the global market prices has come to meet one of the conditions of IMF which advanced a loan of US$4.7 billion to Bangladesh last year. Notably, the high prices of fossil fuels, especially diesel, are a contributor to unrestrained rise in living cost. Even so, the common public would like to welcome the automated price fixing regime in the understanding that they might at least be able to draw the benefit, which they have been denied so far, from any fall in the fuel oil prices in the international market.
Despite these heartening prospects, it would be pertinent to take into consideration the prices of fuel oils in the neighbouring countries, India in particular, while automatically readjusting their prices in line with the said 'guidelines'. It is a valid argument that higher prices of petroleum fuels there might instigate smuggling of fuel oils out of the country. In that case, the government would do well to inform the public how it proposes to deal with the matter to put to rest any misgivings about the issue in the public mind.
Reportedly, octane will be costlier by Tk 10 a litre compared to diesel. But what matters most to the general public is the price of diesel, the price of which affects all consumers across the board. The price of diesel may not see a sharp decline because of its current lower price on account subsidy. Yet the exercise should be geared to bringing this widely used fuel's price down as much as possible.