Govt working on ensuring tolerable fuel price :Nasrul Hamid 

The Energy and Mineral Resources Division is working on the oil price adjustment to ensure it is at a tolerable level following a 23% hike last November. 

"We want price adjustment but at an endurable level. We are working on it and also what the pricing model could be," said Nasrul Hamid, state minister of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources on Tuesday. 

"We are working on where we can change the pricing and whether we will need a change at all. Then we will place it before the government and the government will decide," he said. 

Hamid said that oil price was changing across the globe, which had caused more than Tk100 crore in losses for the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation 

"We need to think how long we can bear this loss...," he said after inaugurating a workshop on the Free Governor Mode of Operation (FGMO) organised by the Bangladesh Power Management Institute (BPMI).

Due to volatile fuel price hike in the global market, the government allocation for subsidy and incentive expenditure to fuel, electricity, gas and fertilizer increased to Tk66,825 crore in the 2021-2022 fiscal year though the proposed allocation was Tk53,852 crore.

Due to the rise in prices of fuel and fertilizer in the international market, in his budget speech Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal proposed increasing subsidy/incentives expenditure on fuel, electricity, gas, and fertilizer to Tk82,745 crore for FY2022-2023. 

He also feared that, considering the price trend of oil, gas, and fertilizer in the international market, the estimated subsidy/incentives spending could be 15-20% higher than the initial estimates, which may pose a challenge in the budget management for the next fiscal year.

On Tuesday, Hamid said that they don't want to increase the fuel price at a rate which will put pressure on the transport sector and people's lives. 

Power Division Secretary Md Habibur Rahman and BPMI member Md Golam Rabbani, among others, spoke at the workshop.