Bangladesh cuts fuel oil prices

The government has finally reduced the cost of fuel oil across the board amid plummeting global oil prices.

The move comes 23 days after it made furnace oil cheaper in the wake of a call by businesses for a blanket cut.

The prices of diesel and kerosene have been brought down by Tk 3 a litre, and octane and petrol by Tk 10.

The power, energy and mineral resources ministry’s spokesperson Mir Md Aslam Uddin informed bdnews24.com about the new rates quoting a ministry order on Sunday afternoon.

The new rates will take effect from midnight, State Minister Nasrul Hamid told bdnews24.com.

Fuel oil prices in Bangladesh were raised for the last time in 2013 due to a global hike in the prices.

Octane has been selling at Tk 99 per litre, petrol at Tk 96, and kerosene and diesel at Tk 68 a litre since then.

The price of furnace oil had been fixed at Tk 60 a litre, but was reduced to Tk 42 on Mar 31.

With a slump in oil prices worldwide for well over the past year, businesses have been demanding a cut in the prices across the board, but the government had been resisting it, until now.

It had argued that the prices had remained unchanged so as to help the state-owned Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation to offset some of its mounting losses.

Road Transport Minister Obaidul Quader had promised that public transport fares would also go down if fuel oil prices were reduced.

Bangladesh’s annual demand for fuel oil rose to over 5 million tonnes a few years ago due to oil-run power plants and the growing number of motor vehicles.

Bangladesh no longer needs to import petrol, State Minister Nasrul Hamid recently said and added that the government has also planned to stop importing octane.