'Profit' at whose expense?

That the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) is said to have made a profit of Tk 2,000 crore last year may have been cause for celebration had it not been at the expense of the end consumers. Where the global oil prices plummeted to a record low, BPC went on and is selling octane at Tk 99 per litre and consumers and oil-fired power plants have been paying the same old prices for kerosene and furnace oil.

The government has set aside Tk 2,400 crore as petroleum subsidies for 2014-15 and may utilise a mere Tk 200-300 crore of the total fund. The unspent fund may well remain idle. This could otherwise have been used to benefit other government-run programmes such as education, health and infrastructure, to name but a few. It is not without reason that the World Bank has been advocating a market-driven mechanism to be introduced that will automatically readjust prices of petroleum products in line with rise and fall of prices in international markets. That way, benefits of lowered prices could be passed on to the consumer.

As per conditions set by International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the government to avail itself of US$987 million in loan funds, it is required to narrow the gap between prices of oil in domestic and international markets. This if the difference exceeds Tk 10 per litre. But this has not been followed. The government must introduce measures to deregulate the market and end BPC's monopoly so that private companies can enter the market and consumers can pay the real price for energy products.