Bangladesh raises retail fuel price for second time in weeks

Dhaka, Jun 1 (PTI) Bangladesh on Monday raised retail fuel prices for the second time in ​six weeks, as part of the government’s efforts to ease pressure on state finances affected by the war in West Asia.

In a statement, the Energy Ministry said that kerosene price was raised to 135 taka (USD 1.14) per litre, up from 130, while the petrol price rose to 140 taka from 135. The price of diesel, however, remained unchanged at 115 taka per litre.

It is the second increase in six weeks.

“The revised rates were determined in line with changes in international petroleum product prices,” the statement said.

Bangladesh ‌introduced an automatic fuel pricing mechanism in 2024, under which domestic fuel prices are periodically adjusted based on international

fuel prices, exchange rate movements and import costs.

The latest increase followed a fuel price hike in April as ​the war in Iran drove up ​global oil prices, raising Bangladesh’s import costs.

Experts earlier said that a possible fuel price hike was likely to add further pressure to the cost of essential goods and services like transport and food in the country, which continued to struggle with persistently high inflation over the past several years.

After a slight decline, inflation stood at 9.04 per cent in April.

In March, Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s government said it was seeking loans of around USD 2 billion from multilateral donors to tackle energy security concerns sparked by surging fuel prices due to the Iran war.

In May, the International Monetary Fund said it was in negotiations for a new assistance programme at Dhaka’s request while Bangladesh was already in the middle of a USD 5.7 billion IMF programme, which began in 2023 and was due to run for four years. PTI AR ZH ZH