Price of all types of fuel oil hiked by Tk 20

The government has again increased the price of fuel oil in the country. The prices of diesel, kerosene, petrol and octane have been increased by Tk 20 per litre each. The new prices were announced in a notification issued from the Energy and Mineral Resources Division on Sunday (September 20).

The new rates will be effective from Monday (September 21). According to the new decision, diesel will be sold at Tk 135 per litre, kerosene at Tk 155, petrol at Tk 160 and octane at Tk 165. Till now diesel was being sold at Tk 115, kerosene at Tk 135, petrol at Tk 140 and octane at Tk 145 per litre. That is, the prices of all four types of fuel oil are increasing by Tk 20 each within one day.

It has been said from the side of the government that the need for adjusting the prices in the country has arisen due to the abnormal price increase of fuel oil in the international market. Under the influence of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East the transportation cost has also increased along with the crude and refined fuel oil in the international market. In the meantime the prices of oil in the local market had been kept unchanged for several months in Bangladesh.

The financial pressure of Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) has also come to the fore as one of the reasons for fixing the new prices. According to the information of BPC, the organization has incurred a loss of about Tk 22,876 crore in paying the price of the imported fuel oil from March to August of the current year. BPC has informed that this pressure has been created as the prices of the market of the country were not adjusted with the prices of the international market.

Earlier on April 19 the price of diesel was increased by Tk 15 per litre to Tk 115. At that time the price of kerosene was increased by Tk 18, petrol by Tk 19 and octane by Tk 20. Later in June the prices of kerosene, petrol and octane were further increased by Tk 5 each. After that the prices of these fuel oils remained unchanged in July, August and September.

After the new rates become effective the highest impact may fall on the diesel-dependent transport and agriculture sectors. There is a possibility of the operating cost of goods-carrying trucks, buses, vessels and various equipment increasing. Due to its influence the cost of transporting goods may also increase. Earlier information of the fare of trucks on the Dhaka-Chattogram route increasing was also found after the fuel price increase of April.

Meanwhile at such a time of increasing the price of fuel oil the government has also taken the initiative of importing additional oil to keep the supply normal. The government has given policy approval for importing another 6 lakh 95 thousand tonnes of fuel oil for the period from September to December. Alongside the decision has been taken to import refined fuel oil of about Tk 12,537 crore from China and Indonesia.