The interim government has reduced the prices of petroleum products under the automatic fuel pricing formula with effect from September 1.
The retail prices of diesel and kerosene will be reduced by Tk 1.25 per litre and petrol and octane by Tk 6.0 per litre.
Fouzul Kabir Khan, The Adviser for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources, gave this information to reporters around 11am on Saturday before inspecting the under-construction Rupsa 800 MW Combined Cycle Power Plant project at Khalishpur in Khulna.
The Energy and Mineral Resources Division (EMRD) under the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources (MPEMR) issued a gazette notification Saturday over the price cut.
As per the gazette notification, signed by the information and public relations officer of the MPEMR Mohammad Shafiullah, the prices of diesel and kerosene will be lowered to Tk105.50 per litre from the existing Tk106.75.
The petrol price will be cut to Tk 121 per litre from existing Tk 127 and octane will be reduced to Tk126 per litre from existing Tk 131 per litre.
Petroleum prices in the domestic market were unchanged in August and being sold at the prices fixed for July, as the previous authoritarian government could not look into it and was facing a mass upsurge led by the anti-discrimination student movement over quota reforms that ultimately led its fall.
The automatic fuel pricing formula was first introduced on March 7, reducing the prices of diesel, kerosene, octane and petrol.
The oil pricing formula aimed at ensuring ‘no loss, no profit’ for the state-run Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC).
Bangladesh’s government is to fix the domestic oil prices every month under the new formula.