The government will not reduce oil prices at the moment, even though global prices have gone down in recent times, Planning Minister AHM Mostafa Kamal told the parliament yesterday.
However, the government might consider lowering oil prices once it recovers the cumulative losses that were given as subsidy in recent years, he added.
The minister, who was responding on behalf of State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid, made the comments while replying to a supplementary question from independent MP Haji M Selim in a question-answer session of the parliament.
In his question, Selim said there was no logic in keeping the current fuel prices in place, as the international market had witnessed a nosedive of fuel prices over the last couple of months.
Replying to the question, Kamal said the government had incurred losses worth around Tk7,000 crore per year when oil prices had soared up earlier.
He added that oil prices had now come down to $58 per barrel from prices as high as $147 per barrel.
If the current price trend continues, the government would make profits worth around Tk14,000 crore in two years, the minister said.
“It is our expectation that the government will surely reduce the fuel prices after setting off previous losses [recovering the subsidised money],” Kamal added.
