The government announced the largest ever hikes in the price of fuel oils - ranging from 42- 52 percent - that became effective as of midnight Friday (technically 0000 hrs Saturday). At the consumer level, the retail prices of diesel and kerosene will be Tk114 per litre, up by a whopping 42.5% from Tk 80/litre, the price set last November following a 23% hike from Tk 65/litre. But the 42.5% hike even exceeds the 37.5% hike in price from 2007, when it went up from Tk 40 to Tk 55 - the largest hike on record prior to tonight. Octane will cost Tk135 per litre, up an eye-watering 51.7% from Tk 89/litre - again the largest hike on record. Lastly a litre of petrol will set consumers back by Tk130 from now at the pump, that used to be Tk 86/litre even just a few hours ago as of writing this report - another 51% hike in one go that has no precedent in independent Bangladesh. The Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) and Eastern Refinery Limited (ERL) have adjusted the petroleum fuel prices as the prices are much higher in the international market compared to Bangladesh, the Energy Division said Friday. State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid said "The government avoided increasing the prices of fuel oils for as long as it could. Now some adjustments have to be made taking stock of the current global situation." Read: Bangladesh ‘looks unable’ to take advantage of low fuel price He offered some hope that the prices may be adjusted back down if the situation in the international energy markets shifts to allow that. But this rarely, if ever, happens. Nasrul Hamid harked back to the one occasion it happened under him, by very small amounts, when prices hit rock bottom internationally in the midst of a prolonged slump in prices that only turned around with the most recent rally in energy markets. "In April 2016, the government reduced the prices of fuel oils. If the situation normalises, the prices of fuel oils will be revised accordingly," he said. Nasrul said due to the upward trend in fuel prices in the global market, many countries have been regularly making adjustments to prices. It would seem the government has chosen to gain parity with prices in the neighbouring Indian state of West Bengal. West Bengal government in India set the price of diesel at Rs92.76 per litre and petrol at Rs106.03 per litre in Kolkata on May 22, 2022 - these prices remain in effect today, and work out to Tk114.09 (diesel) and Tk130.42 (petrol), at an exchange rate of Rs1 =Tk1.23. Also, the BPC is already running a loss of Tk8,014.51 crore in petroleum fuel sales in the last six months, from February to July. Considering the global oil market situation, making "rational price adjustments" became essential to continue BPC as a going concern, while tasked with the vital function of overseeing petroleum imports, among other  things. Read: Fuel price hike: transporters to go on indefinite strike from Friday

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has said he did not get any proposal from International Monetary Fund (IMF) over hiking the prices of petroleum and power as precondition of providing loan. “They (IMF) didn’t give any proposal over raising power and petroleum prices,” he said responding to a question from a reporter. He was briefing reporters after the two consecutive meetings of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs and Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase on Wednesday. The finance minister was asked the question referring to a media report that IMF has proposed increasing the prices of power and petroleum as precondition to provide a $4.5 billion bailout loan. Read: Nothing wrong in economy as Bangladesh seeks IMF loan: Finance Minister He advised the reporters not to spread any misleading information for the sake of the interest of the country. Quoting a Hadith, Kamal said without loving one’s own country, Muslim cannot be a good Muslim. Responding to another question he said that everybody should encourage people who had laundered money to bring those back by paying a certain amount of tax. Defending his position about such move of the government to allow whitening of black money he said money turns black due to the government system. The finance minister said the country’s economy will return to stable position within months as everything is moving on right track. He said not only Bangladesh, many countries in the world including the European ones have been experiencing high inflation.

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has said a decision on raising the petroleum prices will come soon. “You will get informed whenever the decision is made,” he told reporters while virtually briefing on the outcomes of the two consecutive meetings of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) and the Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase (CCGP) on Wednesday.  He said the government always tries to bear the load when price of any product goes up in the international market.  “But when the cost goes up excessively, the government shares the load with people,” he said.  He, however, did not respond to an information that the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) has made a profit of about Tk 50,000 crore since 2015. Mustafa Kamal said the government’s view is to give lesser pain to people.  Responding to another question, he said the country’s stock market will see the impacts of the steps announced in the recently unveiled national budget for 2022-23. Read:CPD for reinstating previous fuel prices The budget implementation will begin from the next month and then you will see the impacts, he adding, there are many things in the budget for the stock market.  He claimed that the country’s economy is in better position compared to the economies of other countries.  The finance minister admitted that a good amount of foreign exchange is being outflowed from the country due to employment of a huge number of foreign nationals in Bangladesh. But the accurate figure of the remittance-outflow is held by the departments concerned, he said.  Read: Fuel price hike a fresh blow to Covid-hit economy: Experts Many of our garment industries have to employ foreign nationals to promote their export. “This is a vis-versa. But despite that our remittance inflow will continue to grow”.           Kamal again defended the government’s recent amnesty for the money laundereders and black money whitening steps saying that money becomes black due to the flawed system of the government.  Due to the flaws in the government system, people get the change to evade taxes, he added.