The Energy and Mineral Resources Division said in a statement that the government decided to increase gas prices as it would need to buy LNG from the spot market at a higher price.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina defended the decision to end subsidies for the energy sector in parliament on Wednesday, saying industries will have to pay in full for gas if they want uninterrupted supplies.
‘Inappropriate’
Professor Shamsul Alam, advisor to the Consumer Federation of Bangladesh, accused the government of passing on the burden of an “unreasonable” increase in the cost of energy supply.
“We need to think whether to raise prices or cut costs,” he said, calling for a protest against decisions that increased costs following “corruption” in government agencies dealing with energy.
“Even after speaking about the discrepancies in expenditure, no one paid heed for a long time. they [government agencies] Increased cost and showed losses. The government gave subsidy to make up for the deficit and has now decided to stop the subsidy.
Now people will have to bear the direct brunt of inflation.
Prof Shamsul alleged that the government was spending more money than necessary for the entire process of supply – importing LNG, producing the gas domestically, delivering the fuel and running the operations.
He suggested launching the protest after analyzing how “unreasonable” the price hike is.
Objecting to the decision to hike gas prices, he said, “Consumers have no option but to launch an agitation to stop the loot in the name of cost hike.”