IMF suggests negotiated price adjustment of fuel oil, cut in subsidy

The visiting delegation of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has advised the government and its agency to start negotiations with stakeholders on fuel oil price adjustment by reducing subsidies.

The IMF team made the suggestion at two separate meetings with Senior Secretary of Energy and Mineral Resources Division Md Mahbubur Rahman and Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) Chairman ABM Azad at the secretariat on Thursday.

In the meeting, the visiting IMF team was informed by the senior secretary that the price of fuel oil has increased three times in the last one and half years.

IMF representatives also inquired about the country’s overall situation of irrigation, fuel oil consumption, gas exploration, extraction and import from abroad.

Before providing any assistance, IMF gives conditions to the Finance Division and Energy Division implements the decisions of Finance Division, a senior officer of the Energy Division said.

In the meeting with BPC, the IMF team wanted to know the overall financial status of the state-run petroleum agency.

Further, the IMF representatives wanted to know the prices of imported fuel oil from BPC and the market prices of fuel oil after subsidies.