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Oil price hike in Bangladesh, as elsewhere |
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August 17, 2000
Dhaka (UNB) – The price of all sorts of fuel oil, barring jet fuel, has been raised by 9-20 percent effective from yesterday (Wednesday). Jet fuel price was slashed to 31 cents per litre from 48 cents. “Although the price hike of oil will put financial pressure on the consumers, there was no alternative,” said an official announcement yesterday. Price of kerosene and diesel was raised by about 20 percent to Tk 15.50 per litre from Tk 12.95. Petrol price was raised by about 9.5 percent (Tk 2.00) to Tk 23.00 per litre and octane by about 9 per cent (Tk 2.00) to Tk 25.00 per litre, said the announcement. The price hike was the first in last four years since 1997 and the 17th since 1972. Since 1997, the local retail price of kerosene and diesel was Tk 12.95, petrol Tk 21.00 and octane Tk 23.00 per litre. “There was no other way to adjust the price of fuel oil with the international price,” the announcement said. The average international price of refined petroleum products has gone up 40 per cent to US$35 per barrel from US$25 in 1997. India has increased the price three times in last one year by 33 percent to adjust their domestic oil prices with international price, the official handout said. It said the price of oil in the Bangladesh domestic market not raised so far with an expectation that the international price would come down. It said Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) is marketing lead-free petrol and octane in the domestic market, which also increased import cost of the products by Tk 2.00 per barrel since last year. As a result, BPC is incurring a loss of Tk 1300 crore every year and forced to lend US$98 million from the Islamic Development Bank and Tk 450 crore from commercial banks in Bangladesh. “There was no alternative to increase the oil price for the survival of BPC and ensuring unhampered supply of petroleum products in the country,” said the handout. Meanwhile, sources in the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources said price of furnace oil was also increased by Tk 1.50 per litre. Power generation plants and railway engines burn maximum of the furnace oil. The price of jet fuel, however, was adjusted downward for international aircraft effective from yesterday, said one source in the Padma Oil Company Ltd. He said the price reduced to 31 US cents per litre from 48 cents. But, the jet fuel for domestic routes increased to Tk 19.09 per litre from Tk 16.62, he said. Bangladesh consumes a total of 34 lakh metric tons of fuel oil annually, of which 58 percent is being imported as refined oil, 40 percent crude and 2 percent is being procured from the gas fields in the country. The fuel oil is being distributed across the country through 800 plus petrol pumps. |