Thursday, April 25, 2024
The Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) has sought Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's directives to re-fix the gas prices for captive and other sectors, increasing by 57 per cent which the apex trade body suggested earlier.
The business organisation also requested the prime minister to implement the fresh price from April.
The FBCCI made the request in a letter signed by its President Md Jashim Uddin on January 25.
According to the letter, the apex trade organisation proposed to hike gas price by 57 per cent for the captive sector and fix the price at Tk 25 per cubic metre from Tk 16.
However, the price of gas in the captive sector has been raised by 87.5 per cent to Tk 30. Besides, the existing rates of gas used in large, medium and small industries have been increased from Tk 11.98, Tk 11.78, and Tk 10.78 respectively, fixing it at Tk 30 for all the industries.
In the power sector, the price of gas has been fixed at Tk 14 per cubic metre from Tk 5.02. All these prices will take effect from February.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the prices of industrial raw materials, transportation costs, and currency exchange rates have increased which ultimately pushed the operating costs of businesses up, making it difficult to run the industries, the letter said.
Under the circumstances, the gas price hike will have more negative impacts on the industrial sector and thus operational costs of businesses will increase further, affecting the competitive edge of local and export-oriented industries, it added.
