Staff Reporter:
Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Iqbal Hassan Mahmood yesterday apprised Prime Minis-ter Tarique Rahman of the fuel oil situation in the country.
He informed the premier about the latest situation at a meeting at the Prime Minister’s Cabinet Division Office in the Bangladesh Secretariat here this afternoon, Prime Minister’s Additional Press Secretary Atikur Rahman Ruman said.
State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Aninda Islam Amit was also present at the meeting.
After the meeting, Iqbal Hassan Mahmood told journalists, “We are in a wartime situation. The whole world has adjusted fuel oil prices. Even America has increased by 5 dollars.”
However, Bangladesh adjusted the prices of fuel oils keeping those below the import costs after the war started, he said.
“(But), we have been forced to do this. Because it has to be purchased in foreign currency, we have made arrangements to adjust it so that we can stay at a tolerable level”.
Replying to a question from a journalist, the power minister said, “Subsidy still exists. If you want to know the exact statistics, you have to go to the ministry”.
Noting that war always has an adverse impact, Mahmood said not only Bangladesh, but the whole world has been affected by this war.
“We are also affected by it,” he added.
