Agriculture Minister Muhammad Abdur Razzaque said on Wednesday that his ministry is trying to find alternative sources from where the much-needed Urea fertilizer can be purchased. Razzaque said this after a meeting with Switzerland’s Ambassador to Bangladesh Nathalie Chuard at the Secretariat. “It’s unfortunate that local production of urea fertilizer has stopped due to gas shortage. But we’ve already taken some steps to collect urea from alternative sources no matter how much it’ll cost,” said Razzaque. The minister added that they are not thinking about any urea crisis yet as the fertilizer is produced by many countries. “We’re trying to make both Jamuna Fertilizer Company Limited and Chittagong Urea Fertilizer Limited operational. The government has to provide gas to activate these two factories,” Razzaque added. Razzaque also said that there is enough stock of fertilizer in the country for the upcoming Boro season. Read: Bangladesh to export onions in 2-3 years: Agricultural Minister Mentioning that the price of locally-produced urea fertilizer is Tk 19 per kilogram, the Minister said that the price of urea fertilizer is Tk 70 to Tk 80 per kg globally. “We’re still providing urea to the farmers at Tk 16 per Kg. No other country can provide urea at this rate, not even India,” said Razzaque.

President of Bangladesh Economic Association Prof Dr Abul Barkat on Sunday proposed establishment of an independent commission to recover black and laundered money.   He said that the amount of black money is over Tk 88.61 trillion in the country, accumulating from FY 1972-73 to FY 2018-19. Of which Tk 8 lakh crore has been laundered abroad at the same time.  Barkat was addressing a press conference on the occasion of placing BEA’s alternative national budget for FY 2022-23. The size of the alternative budget is Tk 20.50 trillion for the upcoming budget of FY 2022-23 along with 338 recommendations. READ: Budget 2022-23: Economic self-reliance, adequate supply of commodities to be key challenges The revenue income from internal sources has been estimated at Tk 18.70 trillion. In addition emphasis has been put on direct tax and recovery of black and smuggled money to meet the budget deficit. In the alternative budget, foreign loans and bank loans have been discouraged. Prof Dr Md. Ainul Islam, general secretary of BEA moderated the session.