Timing of fuel price hike baffles energy experts

Energy experts have questioned the logic behind the government's recent fuel price hike, when Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) has been paying duties and taxes for the imported oil to the tune of 30 per cent of the price.
"The government loves to talk about BPC's 'accumulated losses' (which is Tk 44,528 crore during 2001-2015) and government subsidy here, ironically, in 2001-2015 the BPC paid Tk 47,218 crore to the national exchequer as taxes and duties. It means that in true sense the BPC did not incur any loss in oil trading in the domestic market�so why this Tom and Jerry game here," Dr M Tamim former Energy Adviser to the Caretaker government asked.
There is another issue here, why the BPC pays duties and taxes for oil import when the price is too high? We do not want any government organisation to run on losses, but the authority hiked prices in such a ridiculous way in this pandemic period it will certainly hamper the regular pace of life...the government's job is not to make profit-but to help people prosper, Dr Tamim said.
BPC is paying Tk 24 per liter as tax and duties to NBR. This is around 30 per cent of the price per litre.
Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources, in a circular on Wednesday said BPC was counting losses of Tk 13.1 per litre of diesel and Tk 6.21 per litre of furnace oil, causing approximately Tk 20 crore losses per day. Price of kerosene oil was also hiked although it had been profitable.
To offset the losses, BPC could have fixed Tk 78.1 per litre of diesel but the
government is currently selling the same at Tk 80 that offers Tk1.99 in profit per litre and Tk 5,635 against per tonne. Thus the profit will hit Tk 94.94 crore per month.
Bangladesh Economic Survey-2017 said, the BPC has made a net profit of Tk 7,334.13 crore till April in year 2016-17, in the fiscal year 2015-16, the BPC made a profit of Tk 9,040.7 crore, it booked profits of Tk 4,021 crore, Tk 6,342 crore in FY16 and Tk 4,399 crore in FY17, according to BPC statistics.
Dr Tamim said, "Yes, we need to adjust the price but the question is when and how much. My observation is that the government has failed to chose the right time. The government on and off waives duties on sugar import what's wrong with the fuel, he asked."
However, in March and April of 2018, BPC suffered a loss of some Tk 300 crore in a month, in February the BPC incurred losses of around Tk 10 crore on a daily basis as the price of Brent Crude in the global market was hovering around US$70 per barrel.
The Corporation also paid Tk 603 crore as overdue Value Added Tax to the National Board of Revenue over the past several years from its profits.
At a recent media briefing, the Centre for Policy Dialogue projected that a 10 per cent reduction in fuel prices would help the GDP grow by 0.3 per cent, and increase export by 0.4 per cent and household consumption by 0.6 per cent. And inflation will decline by 0.2 per cent.
Diesel meets more than 73 per cent of country's total fuel demand. Diesel is used in transports, water vessels, irrigation pumps and different power stations. According to the latest data, BPC annually sells 55.3 lakh tonnes of fuel oil. Of the total, 40.23lakh tonnes are diesel.