The price of octane will drop Tk 4 per litre, petrol Tk 3 and diesel Tk 0.75 under the new guidelines
Published : 07 Mar 2024, 05:12 PM
The price of fuel oil will fall on Friday as Bangladesh implements a new pricing formula that will automatically adjust local prices in line with those on the international market.
The Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources issued a notification regarding the automatic fuel price adjustment guidelines on Thursday. The new prices will take effect from midnight.
From Friday, the price of diesel and kerosene will fall Tk 0.75 to Tk 108.25 per litre, the price of petrol will drop Tk 3 to Tk 122 per litre, and the price of octane will fall Tk 4 to Tk 126 per litre.
The new prices will cut costs for motorcycles and cars, which primarily run on octane and petrol. However, it will not have much of an impact on buses and trucks, which run on diesel.
Fuel prices were raised an average of 42 percent in August 2022 in the face of mounting pressure from subsidies. In the face of widespread criticism the price was eased by Tk 5 per litre 23 days later.
Accordingly, diesel and kerosene were sold at Tk 109 per litre, petrol at Tk 125 per litre and octane at Tk 130 a litre.
The sales price of fuel oil will be adjusted at the consumer level every month in light of the import price according to the new formula, the ministry said.
Though the price of oil fluctuates regularly in the world market, prices in Bangladesh would be slow to react as it would have to wait for a government decision. This would sometimes lead to losses for consumers and, at other times, for the state-run Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation.
A change in the price of fuel oil has a widespread impact on people’s lives by affecting the price of transport and goods. Usually when there were price hikes in the international market, there would be efforts to raise it locally too. However, when the price decreased on the international market, the benefits were slow to trickle down to consumers.
For a long time the government had spoken of setting local fuel oil prices in coordination with prices on the international market. Accordingly, on Mar 1, the Department of Energy and Mineral Resources published guidelines for month-to-month price adjustments.
From March, the price of fuel would be determined in coordination with the international market, the guidelines said.
State Minister for Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid said on Tuesday that the automatic rate adjustment system has been approved by the prime minister.
As a result, this new method for setting fuel prices will take effect from Friday.