Newspaper (April 26): ‘IMF Suggests Increase in Electricity, Gas, Fertilizer Prices’

The International Monetary Fund has recommended cutting government subsidies and raising gas, electricity and fertilizer prices, and has recommended spending the extra money on social security programs.

The currently visiting IMF mission, in a meeting at the Ministry of Finance, also asked to include more poor in the program and bring them under the monthly allowance.

The IMF delegation held continuous meetings with various officials of the finance department throughout the day on Thursday. At the same time, the delegation discussed about macroeconomics, enforcement of laws in banking sector and financial institutions, secret loans and Bangladesh Bank’s initiative to merge banks.

Finance Ministry officials said that the government will gradually increase the prices of electricity and gas in the next three years to bring them to the production cost.

It is said that according to the size of the economy of Bangladesh, the amount of foreign investment or FDI is not coming as much as it should be. The government has taken various steps to increase FDI. However, the last financial year saw less investment than the previous year.

According to the report, the accounts available for the last 27 years show that the United Kingdom is at the forefront of investment in Bangladesh. Next is the United States.

And emerging superpower China is at number five and India at number nine.

According to the statistics of Bangladesh Bank, the UK is followed by the United States, followed by the Netherlands. The list includes Singapore at 4, China at 5, South Korea at 6, Hong Kong at 7, Norway at 8, India at 9 and Japan at 10.

Howling in the stock market – this is the main headline of the voice of the times. It is said that the stock market is not stopping in any way. The index has been steadily falling since the floor price was raised.

The capital of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), the country’s main stock market, has decreased by Tk 88 thousand 343 crore in the last 3 months due to continuous price fall. At this time, 83 percent of the market’s companies and funds fell. Investors who lost their capital started crying.

Stock market experts say that due to global economic crisis, bank mergers, increase in interest rates and not being able to keep pace with the global economy, stock market prices are falling regularly. This has resulted in a crisis of confidence among investors. As a result, new investment is not coming.

Two and a quarter million people will not be able to buy food – this is the title of the transformation of the country in terms of food security. According to the report, there is a danger of major climate disasters such as cyclones in Bangladesh in the coming days. This may disrupt crop production; Food prices are high right now, and may increase further. In the current crisis in the economy, it will be more difficult to provide food to vulnerable people in Bangladesh.

International organization Integrated Food Security Page Classification IPC said that 1 crore 73 lakh people of the country may fall into food crisis during April-October of this year. The company published a report on this in the first week of April. They work with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) around the world.

The organization says that 2 crore 85 lakh people will be under pressure to buy food during April-October, 1 crore 57 lakh 45 thousand people will face food crisis. 7 lakh 85 thousand people will fall into acute crisis. 2 crore 92 lakh 51 thousand people will be out of food insecurity or in a safe position.

Potato production down at field level – this is the main headline in traders’ messages. It is said that the Directorate of Agricultural Extension (DAE) had set a target of 1 crore 16 lakh tonnes of potato production in the current financial year. Although the target was not achieved due to adverse weather conditions and the tendency of farmers to harvest potatoes and sell them ahead of time, said those concerned.

According to DAR, in the current financial year, potato production in the country is a little more than 1 crore 9 lakh 63 thousand tons. According to that, about 6 lakh 37 thousand tons of potatoes have been produced in the country less than the government target this time. Although the actual production of the agricultural product in the country is much lower than the official estimate, the cold store owners are claiming.

Barring miracle, record of 76yrs breaks today – Daily Star news about high temperature. It is said that there were at least 23 days of heatwaves this month, which is equal to the record for heatwaves for the whole year in 2019.

Bangladesh is going through another heat wave today without any exception. And if it continues like this, Heatwave’s record of 1948 may be broken in one year.

Suffering at peak in loadshedding – this is the main headline of mankind. It is said that there is unrest everywhere due to ongoing protests in the country. The demand for electricity is increasing with the heat. So there is load shedding of electricity due to shortage between demand and supply.

Although load shedding is less in Dhaka, people are fed up with load shedding in Gramganj. Officials of the electricity department said that at 3 pm yesterday, more than 1,200 megawatts of load shedding had to be done across the country. Experts believe that the actual load shedding is more than the electricity department has given this calculation.

Meanwhile, even on the day of record power generation (April 22nd), there was average load shedding of 12 to 14 hours across the country, especially in rural areas. After Eid-ul-Fitr, there is a temporary relief as the demand is low for a few days, but the load-shedding has been increasing for the past one week. It has become extreme in the last few days.

The agitation was suspended during the stormy night throughout the day – Topic of the day. It is said in the news that after the announcement of the closure of the Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology (CHUTE) over the death of two students in a bus accident, the students have suspended their agitation. After a meeting with the university administration on Thursday night, the students announced the decision to suspend the movement.

Earlier, 20 agitating students participated in a meeting with the Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor from 9:00 PM to 11:00 PM. When the blockade was lifted after the meeting, traffic started on the Chittagong-Kaptai road. They also decided to return to class.

Carnage is going on in the road – Prothom Alo’s main headline. It is said that people die in road accidents every day. According to government agency BRTA, 320 people died in this year’s Eid Yatra, which is 19 percent more than last year’s Eid Yatra. Each death has grieved the relatives, made the families helpless. People die in road accidents due to unfit vehicles, unlicensed drivers, tired driving, illegal vehicles etc.

Four people, including traffic police and students, died of heat stroke in four districts including the capital Dhaka on Thursday. In the six days that followed, 34 people lost their lives in the heat. Stakeholders say the surface is extremely hot due to ongoing heat waves that require continuous rain to cool or reduce temperatures. But for now there is no good news of rain.

DC-SPs apprehensive about the influence of Ministers-MPs Daily Ittefak has covered the news about the upazila elections.

It is said that the Deputy Administrators and Superintendents of Police have expressed concern about the influence of the ruling party’s ministers and MPs in the Sixth Upazila Parishad elections. They want to know clearly whether the Election Commission will stand by them if any action is taken against the Ministers-MPs. In response, the commission said that it will stand by any action taken in the interests of free, fair and impartial elections. Sources of the meeting said that these things came up in a meeting of the Election Commission with the field administration regarding the sixth upazila vote on Thursday.

Dhaka seeks 2-year extension for Rooppur nuke plant loan repayments, In other words, Dhaka has asked to extend two years for repayment of Rooppur nuclear power plant.

The main headline of The Business Standard says – Bangladesh Bank has formally requested a two-year extension of the initial loan of US$12.65 billion given by Russia for the development of Ruppur Nuclear Power Plant in Bangladesh.

So far the first installment of this loan was due on March 15, 2027, now the government is extending it by two years to March 15, 2029.