Additional expenditure on oil and gas import is 14 billion dollars

In the last 3 and a half years, additional expenditure on fuel oil and LNG import has been 14 billion dollars. Due to geo-political tension and war, the reserve of Bangladesh has been strained under the pressure of this expenditure. Energy advisor Dr. Tawfiq-e-Ilahi Chowdhury thinks that countries like Bangladesh are the victims of international robbery gangs. Bangladesh is almost 100% dependent on import of fuel oil due to lack of its own source. As a result, a huge amount of foreign currency has to be added every year. Besides, the domestic situation also changes with the international market. However, after the start of the Ukraine war, the overall economy is under pressure due to the huge increase in spending in this sector. For example, according to BPC, importing 5.2 lakh tonnes of fuel oil in 2020 cost a little over 2.1 billion dollars. However, in 2022, the expenditure for 70 lakh tonnes is 702 crores. That is, the average cost per ton increases by 3 times in 2 years. The trend continued in the current year as well. According to BPC data, in these 3 and a half years, only 1.5 billion dollars have to be spent on fuel oil. Dr. Tawfiq-e-Ilahi Chowdhury said, the western world or the oil exporting companies have been looted. They took the money from countries like us in the name of war. If the price of energy products had not increased, Bangladesh’s reserves would have been over $40 billion. Not only fuel oil, the cost of importing LNG has also increased accordingly. According to calculations, in 2020, 131 million dollars were spent for 4.2 million tons, but after 2 years, the same amount of LNG has to be multiplied by more than 3.5 billion dollars. All in all, in the last 3 and a half years, almost two and a half billion dollars were spent to buy oil and gas. If this trend continues, by the end of 2023, the additional expenditure in the sector will be at least 14 billion dollars. Dr. Tawfiq-e-Ilahi Chowdhury said that the price of electricity has increased due to the increase in the price of fuel. Fertilizer prices have increased. The cost of communication systems has skyrocketed. As a result there has been inflation. They are inextricably linked to each other. Energy expert M Tamim said, if we look at Singapore, Taiwan or Japan, it will be seen; Those dependent on energy imports have gone through the same financial crisis. In the recent Middle East crisis, there is a glimpse of the energy market becoming unstable again, under the influence of which Bangladesh may be under more pressure.