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Download PDF The government will not go for price increase of diesel and fertiliser in the current Boro season though the subsidies on diesel and fertiliser will be over Tk 10,000 at the end of this fiscal year.
Agriculture Adviser CS Karim yesterday said the government would continue subsidy on fertiliser at least until the end of the Boro season.
“We are giving subsidy of Tk 1,200 per bag of fertiliser as its sale price is Tk 300 a bag against the production cost of Tk 1,500,” CS Karim said at a press briefing following two inter-ministerial meetings at the agriculture ministry.
Chief adviser’s special assistant for energy and power M Tamim told the briefing, “Presently, we don’t have any plan to increase prices of fuel.”
Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) will incur a loss of Tk 7,000 crore in the current fiscal year due to the administered price of fuel in domestic market, said Tamim, who attended one of the two meetings that focussed on the demand and supply of diesel and electricity.
CS Karim chaired this meeting and Food and Health Adviser Shawkat Ali chaired the other meeting on fertiliser situation.
Agriculture ministry sources said the government would give around Tk 3,500 crore subsidy on urea and non-urea fertilisers this fiscal year.
Tamim said it is not possible to run the BPC with huge losses year after year. The government will have to find a way to reduce the subsidy.
“We are heading towards a critical situation and we need an alternative to subsidy on fuel and other sectors because the huge subsidies are putting pressure on the national exchequer,” he added.
Agriculture ministry officials placed at the meeting on fertiliser an estimate showing that 12 lakh tonnes of urea are required in the current Boro season. The meeting noted that the stock of urea now is satisfactory, and there is a small shortage of non-urea fertilisers that will be met through import.
CS Karim said the government has increased the number of fertiliser dealers to 16,000 and each of them will distribute fertiliser among 800 to 1,000 farmers.
“We don’t have any crisis of urea and we have made all preparations for proper supply of fertiliser,” he said, adding that in case of any problem in distribution, the government will take quick action.
Tamim said the government has decided to supply electricity to rural areas during the current Boro season on a priority basis. “If necessary, we would go for load management of power in the urban areas,” he said.
“The gap between demand and supply of power is not too high as we have overhauled a number of power stations, and added 200 megawatt of power to the national grid recently,” he said.
The BPC has been instructed to ensure smooth supply of diesel in this Boro season keeping in view the total demand for 8.38 lakh tonnes.
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