The government has decided to reduce the prices of diesel, petrol and octane by Tk 5 per litre.
The decision will take effect at 12am on Monday.
The government on August 5 announced the largest ever hikes in the price of fuel oil – ranging from 42-52 per cent – with effect from August 6.
At the consumer level, the retail prices of diesel and kerosene went up to Tk 114 per litre, up by a whopping 42.5 per cent from Tk 80/litre.
Octane price was raised to Tk 135 per litre, up an eye-watering 51.7 per cent from Tk 89/litre – again the largest hike on record.
Lastly, a litre of petrol was set at Tk 130 from at the pump, which used to be Tk 86/litre even just a few hours ago as of writing this report – another 51 per cent hike in one go that has no precedent in independent Bangladesh.
Bangladesh annually imports about 6.5 million tonnes of petroleum, of which 5.0 million tonnes is refined. Of these, the major portion is diesel – mainly consumed by transport, industry and power sector.
However, the petroleum price started witnessing a decreasing trend from August 1 after the per barrel crude oil price was recorded to be $130. After that record high, it witnessed a per barrel price below $90.
During the hike of fuel prices, it was said by the Energy Division that the state-owned BPC has been running a loss of Tk 80.14 billion in petroleum fuel sales in the last six months, from February to July.
The BPC chairman said that despite price fall in international market, the organisation has to incur a loss of Tk 10-12 per litre in diesel.
