DHAKA, April 24: Finance and Planning Minister of Bangladesh, M. Saifur Rahman, has been passing sleepless nights following the recent oil price hike in the international markets was posing a formidable challenge to the country’s economy.
“It has become a national crisis and I could not sleep at night for the past one week,” a ‘puzzled’ Saifur Rahman told newsmen on Sunday after a meeting with the high officials of the planning ministry. “It is the most formidable challenge to the nation in particular and global in general.”
The minister said the government had no instant solution to the challenge. “I am getting puzzled over the situation.”
The minister said that he would arrange brainstorming sessions for feedback on future course of action to tackle the situation arising out of soaring prices of crude oil in the international markets.
The price of crude oil per barrel was $75 in the global markets on Saturday and could hit $100 per unit in near future as predicted by international experts.
“It would really be a tough situation if oil price shoots up to $100,” he said.
When asked about the actions the government might take in this regard, the finance minister said the whole issue should be reviewed very carefully before taking a decision.
“To ensure less suffering of the people and less harm to the economy would be the basis of a future decision on readjusting oil prices locally,” he added.
The finance minister said the country could not afford providing huge subsidy for fuel and allowing the state-run Sonali Bank to open letters of credit for oil import as the bank could not provide loans for the private sector in the situation.
