The government Monday lowered fuel prices by Tk5 per litre 23 days after raising the prices by up to 51.68 percent. Prices of diesel and kerosene will now be Tk109, petrol Tk125, and octane Tk130 per litre at the filling stations, State Minister for Power, Energy, and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid told UNB. Also, a gazette notification was issued by the Energy and Mineral Resources Division on the new prices, which will be effective from Tuesday midnight. Also read: Diesel price likely to come down in a day or two: Nasrul Hamid The new development came hours after Nasrul said the government was going to make a decision on the adjustment of fuel prices within a day or two. On August 6, the government increased fuel prices to a record high.Diesel and kerosene retail prices were fixed at Tk114, petrol at Tk130 per litre and octane at Tk135 per litre. Also read: Import tax on diesel cut by 5 percent

With prices of everyday items still maintaining an upward trend, the ordinary folks’ frustrations are often spilling out in public, often in the markets when they are confronted with some outlandish hike in the price of some item they are used to having - the most obvious and recent example being eggs. As is always the case with inflation, it is the people who are on fixed incomes i.e. the majority of people who are in jobs earning salaries, who almost inevitably suffer the most. This is because inflation at any time in any place always acts as a drag on the real value of your income, i.e. it diminishes the real value of your wages aka real wages. Though prices of almost all commodities have increased in the recent blow of price hikes, salaries i.e.  remained in their previous form. As a result, people on fixed incomes, as well as lower middle-class groups, are facing distressing times these days, forced to curtail consumption in order to maintain household expenses. Some of them are also engaging more heavily in arguments with the shopkeepers over some pricing policy or the other, asking for clear reasons or analysis, and occasionally even exposing the lack thereof. Even these small victories however, do not lead to any reversal of the pricing policy, nor do they accrue any lasting benefit - in the final analysis, the seller always wins. Given the volatility prevailing in the market, trying to predict where prices will go or chart their future course is a hazardous exercise. Visiting Karwan Bazar, Malibag, Rampura, Khilgaon, and Shanti Nagar Bazar, our correspondent observed that price of every single item on his shopping list - including rice, wheat, fish, vegetables, egg, chicken, milk-powder, soap, and detergent - have gone up. In some rare cases, the price of an item may just have decreased over the last few days after having gone up over a sustained period prior to that - with the overall effect that it is still more expensive than it was, say six months ago. The Directorate of National Consumers Rights Protection (DNCRP), has carried out drives wherever it has received information on price manipulation, said market insiders, with the agency’s chief often at the head of such operations. Rice: the Ultimate Barometer Using the volatility often talked about in energy markets as an excuse, the price of coarse rice has increased by Tk150-200 per 50kg sack in the wholesale market, while this rice is retailing Tk 5-6 per kg higher than it was just 5 days ago. The chinigura pulau rice, which is a finer variety produced here, was sold at Tk 5400 (50 kg sack) on August 14. Today if you go to the market you will see how the asking price has jumped to Tk5850 in the wholesale market recently - an 8.3 percent jump   Fine quality rice including minicate and Nazirshail are selling at Tk 80 to Tk85 per kg while the superior quality of this rice was selling at Tk90 to 95 in the super shops. Rois Uddin, the owner of a gusher shop on the Eskaton Dilu Road, told UNB that he bought coarse rice (BR-28) for an extra Tk200 on top of the  Tk2700 per 50 kg sack. In the absence of the authorities’ effective price monitoring, a group of dishonest traders raised the price, referring to fuel prices, said Ekabbar Hossain, who had gone to buy a 50 kg sack of rice at the Khilgaon Katcha Bazar, a popular kitchen market, on Wednesday. As Ekabbar, a retired school teacher, would find out - unless he was willing to settle for one of the coarser varieties - he had badly under-budgeted, and was forced to settle for a 25 kg sack that evening instead. “Rice price may increase by Tk 5 per 50kg sack as the government fixed the transport fare after oil price hiked, but how can it increase by Tk5-6 per kg,” he exclaimed to the seller while paying, who was only too ready with his well-practised ‘Ukraine War-record hikes in energy-price level rise’ line of reasoning by now. Ekabbar noted fish prices had increased by Tk 10-60 per kg, all arguing the same line of reasoning as the rice seller.  Vegetables like eggplant, long beans, brinjal were selling at Tk60-80 per kg, which was Tk55 -60 per kg before the oil price hiked.     Prices of tomato, carrot, potato, onion, ginger and garlic had jumped by Tk 5-30 per kg. Even vegetable sellers were blaming the war and record energy prices. “But actually it is the result of syndication by a group of dishonest businessmen, thriving on lax price monitoring by the government,” he said. He urged the government to control the runaway price hike, telling UNB that otherwise, people like him (retired and marginal group) would soon fail to bear the monthly household expenditures. Read: Spice prices shoot up ahead of Eid despite sufficient stock Continuing to monitor the prices as an ordinary buyer, the UNB correspondent recorded a substantial hike between Tk 30-50 per kg in the prices of layer, Pakistani, Sonali and indigenous chicken varieties, compared to their price before the Bangladesh government hiked fuel prices. The well-publicised jump in the price of farm eggs, that reached a scarcely believable Tk 150 per dozen, fell back to Tk 130 after effective intervention on the ground by DNCRP.  Away from the markets, A.H.M. Shafiquzzaman, the Director General of DNCRP, told UNB that they are doing their best to make their presence felt on the floor of the markets, working in coordination with law enforcement and intelligence agencies. “There can be no scope for any sustained, unjust hike in the prices of everyday items including food, that uses the hike in fuel prices as an excuse or cover,” Shafiquzzaman said. Their drives against such irrational and uncalled for price hikes in the capital’s kitchen markets would be reinforced and stepped up, said the DG of DNCRP.

Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity has demanded the government to immediately repeal its decision of hiking fuel prices to ease the already-existing sufferings of the people created by the price hikes of essentials. The Samity made the demand through a press release published on Saturday. The release mentions last year’s fuel price hike by the government, saying that prices of Diesel and Kerosene were hiked by Tk 15 per litre, thus taking their prices to Tk 80 from Tk 65. Read: Commuters' misery mounts countrywide after fuel price hike Following the price hike, fares of public transport including buses and launches were hiked by 27 percent and 35 percent, respectively, which were much higher compared to the increase in fuel prices, the release read. The release added that due to hikes in fuel prices, costs of transportation will double, further increasing the prices of essentials. Industrial production will be hampered, pressure on imports will be created. While rising imports will affect the country’s economy, it’ll increase unemployment too. Prices of fuel in the international market are showing a downward trend. Raising fuel prices instead of lowering them to appease the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is unacceptable and anti-people. We urge the government to revert fuel prices to their previous rates immediately, the release concluded.  

Even after the latest hike in fuel prices in Bangladesh it is equal to India and comparatively lower than the other neighbouring countries, said Information Minister Hasan Mahmud. He made the remark Saturday at a seminar marking Sheikh Kamal’s 73rd birth anniversary at Dhaka University. Hasan Mahmud said the government provided a subsidy of Tk 53,000 crore or 6 billion dollar in fuel and power sector in the last fiscal year. Also read: Fuel price hike: Passengers suffer as buses go off roads in capital The neighbouring countries did not provide such subsidy and as a result they had to raise the fuel prices long before Bangladesh, he added.  “India has been selling diesel at Tk 114 per liter and octane at Tk 134-135 per liter which is the current price in Bangladesh. As our price was lower a huge amount of fuel was being smuggled to India through borders,” said the Information and Broadcasting Minister. He said in India’s Kolkata current diesel price is Tk 114 per liter (as  per local currency) while Tk 112 in allover India. “In China the diesel price is equal to Tk 118, in United Aram Emirates it is Tk 123, in Nepal it is Tk 127.82, in Indonesia Tk 138.24 and in Singapore Tk 189. 78,” said the minister. Regarding the increase in transport fares he said, if there are 70% passengers in a 50-seated bus the fare will increase by Tk 0.29 per kilometer only. Also read: Fuel price hike by govt just rubbing salt in wounds: BNP “Currently, a passenger has to pay Tk 1.80 per kilometer which will increase by Tk 2.90. Soon the government will hold meeting with all  concerned parties to ensure no one takes unfair opportunity of the fuel price hike,” said Hasan Mahmud.

The hike in fuel prices by the government on Friday has resulted in an acute transport crisis in Dhaka, causing untold sufferings to commuters as a large number of buses stayed off the roads on Saturday morning. In an abrupt move, the government increased the prices of diesel, octane and petrol by 42.5 percent, 51.7 percent and 51 percent respectively Friday night. Currently, diesel is being sold at Tk 114 per litre, octane at Tk 135 per litre and petrol at Tk 130 per litre. Transport owners decided not to operate buses following the government’s announcement, triggering transport shortage in the capital. Also read: Brace for bus & ferry fare hike Masuma Nasrin Rimi, a private employee working at a multinational company at Gulshan-1, waited in front of Purobi Bus Stand in Mirpur-12 for two hours but couldn’t catch a bus. She had to share a CNG-run auto-rickshaw with another office goer to reach Mohakhali Wireless Gate area.

Jatiya Party Chairman on Saturday urged the government to lower the fuel prices as oil prices fell in the global market. “Fuel prices have been hiked with an excuse of growing oil prices in the international market,” he said. The Jatiya Party chief said the unnecessary hike in oil prices has made people's lives miserable. “The oil prices are now falling in the global market. Why are oil prices not brought down here?” He made the remarks while addressing an extended meeting of Dhaka south city unit of Jatiya Party at the Institution of Diploma Engineers, Bangladesh. GM Quader, also the deputy opposition leader in parliament, said the oil prices were very low in the world market earlier, but the government did not decrease the prices in the country. Read: Prices soaring for no reason: GM Quader He also trashed the government’s logic to keep the prices higher to prevent the smuggling of fuel. “It’s never possible to smuggle fuel oil without a tanker or a pipeline. The Jatiya Party chief said former president HM Ershad during his rule had kept the price of oil at Tk 7 per liter by giving subsidies. “The price of that diesel is now Tk 80.” He said the people of the country go through sufferings when the fuel prices remain high as it pushes up the prices of all commodities and services. As the fuel prices rose, GM Quader said the owners and workers of public transport went on a strike without any prior announcement, leaving lakhs of commuters in misery. He said some government officials concerned raised the fares of transports after a meeting with transport owners. “The fares of gas-run buses have also been hiked through the gas price was not increased.” Read: UP polls: GM Quader says no change in centre-capturing culture GM Quader alleged that the transport workers are collecting much higher fares than the fixed ones. He said power tariffs have also been increased while the prices of daily essential commodities are skyrocketing. “People are struggling to make ends meet. No one seems to have control over the market.” The Jatiya Party chairman also said the farmers are not getting fair prices of their produce though all the essential items are being sold at exorbitant prices in the market.    

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday said the government has rationally raised the fuel oil prices amid the price hike in the international market as a large amount of subsidy is provided to this sector. “We provide Tk 23,000 crore subsidy to only diesel every year. We provide a total of Tk 53,000 crore as subsidy against diesel, electricity and related others. You just tell me how much money should be given as a subsidy,” she said. The Prime Minister was speaking at a press conference at her Ganobhaban in the afternoon on the outcome of her recent two-week visit to the United Kingdoms and France. Some journalists were also connected to the event virtually from the Prime Minister’s Office. Hasina said fuel prices have gone up in the international market and there will be no more development in the country if the larger amount of the budget is given as a subsidy. “If we procure diesel at a high rate and provide it at the cheapest rate by giving a larger amount of subsidy, how can we balance it? I’ve to consider the matters which are pragmatic,” she said, asking all to consider it. Read:Consensus over climate finance a significant achievement: Hasina Khaleda’s treatment The Prime Minister said she has given enough facilities to BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia by allowing her to stay in her residence and receive medical treatment. “She (Khaleda) has been allowed to stay in her residence and receive medical treatment by exercising the executive authority I have. The rest is a legal matter,” she said, replying to a question if she takes any initiative for the treatment of ailing Khaleda Zia. “Isn’t it enough that Khaleda Zia was allowed to stay in her residence instead of jail and receive treatment there?” questioned the PM. In a counter question, she asked the journalist whether he would receive a person with a garland who had tried to kill him and rewarded the killers of his family members by giving them jobs in different missions abroad and by not bringing the perpetrators to justice. Hasina said Khaleda Zia made Colonel Rashid, a killer of Bangabandhu, the opposition leader in Parliament through the February 15 election in 1996, and she also gave an accused Khairuzzaman a job in the Foreign Ministry and sent him to foreign mission as an ambassador. Khaleda Zia also promoted another killer of Bangabandhu, Pasha posthumously, who was in the army and ensured all retirement and other benefits for his family, she said. After the August 21 grenade attack, Khaleda had remarked that she (Sheikh Hasina) carried the grenades in her vanity bag. The Awami League was not allowed to discuss the attack in Parliament, even for a single day, though 22 people were killed and many others injured, she said. Before the Kotalipara bomb plantation, Khaleda Zia had commented that Sheikh Hasina can never be the opposition leader, let alone the Prime Minister. “She thought I would die,” said Hasina. “Even then we are not inhumane (like them). This is why she has been allowed to stay in residence by applying my executive authority….. I showed humanity for such an inhumane person,” she said.