<span style="max-width:100%" class="jwMediaContent jw_media_holder aligncenter" data-align="aligncenter" id="ari-image-1" data-ari=""path":"media/2023/01/31/e08b0f7bc3c8700552bb002473791f18-63d91861cbe25.jpg","width":"700","alt":"u0985u09b0u09cdu09a5u09a8u09c0u09a4u09bfu09acu09bfu09a6 u09a1. u099cu09beu09b9u09bfu09a6 u09b9u09cbu09b8u09c7u09a8","fullscreen":1,"align":"aligncenter","viewPort":".featured_image","url":"https://www.ajkerpatrika.com/256451/%E0%A6%AC%E0%A6%BF%E0%A6%A6%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%AF%E0%A7%81%E0%A6%A4%E0%A7%87%E0%A6%B0-%E0%A6%A6%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%AE-%E0%A6%AC%E0%A7%83%E0%A6%A6%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%A7%E0%A6%BF-%E2%80%98%E0%A6%97%E0%A6%B0%E0%A6%BF%E0%A6%AC%E0%A6%95%E0%A7%87-%E0%A6%B8%E0%A6%B9%E0%A6%BE%E0%A7%9F%E0%A6%A4%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%B0-%E0%A6%AA%E0%A6%B0%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%AE%E0%A6%B0%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%B6#image-1","id":1,"caption":"u0985u09b0u09cdu09a5u09a8u09c0u09a4u09bfu09acu09bfu09a6 u09a1. u099cu09beu09b9u09bfu09a6 u09b9u09cbu09b8u09c7u09a8u0964 u099bu09acu09bf: u09b8u0982u0997u09c3u09b9u09c0u09a4 ","wrapCaption":"u0985u09b0u09cdu09a5u09a8u09c0u09a4u09bfu09acu09bfu09a6 u09a1. u099cu09beu09b9u09bfu09a6 u09b9u09cbu09b8u09c7u09a8u0964 u099bu09acu09bf: u09b8u0982u0997u09c3u09b9u09c0u09a4 “”> Former Chief Economist of World Bank’s Bangladesh Residential Mission. Zahid Hossain said, ‘The market of daily necessities will be unstable due to frequent increase in electricity and gas prices. As a result, the life of the consumer class, especially those who belong to the middle class and lower income groups, will become more difficult.
Dr. to know the response to increase the price of electricity twice in less than a month. Zahid Hossain said this when contacted by today’s newspaper.
When asked about the fact that the government is being forced to repeatedly increase the prices of gas and electricity due to the advice of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Zahid Hossain said, “The advice of the IMF is that if the subsidy on gas, electricity and fuel oil is removed, the low-income people will suffer.” For that reason, the organization has suggested that a part of the money that will be saved if the subsidy is removed be given to the poor people by increasing the coverage of the social security net for the low income people. But the government does not accept it. The amount of rice and wheat given to the poor under the social safety net has decreased significantly in the last seven months.
Zahid Hossain said, ‘As a result of increasing the price of electricity, on the one hand, the customer will have to pay more money on the electricity bill, on the other hand, the price of everything from consumer goods to people’s needs for living will increase. People are already suffering because of Corona and war in Ukraine. On top of that, increasing the price of electricity and gas repeatedly will put the middle class to low income people under more economic pressure.
By increasing the price of electricity and gas again and again, inflation is fueled by Dr. Zahid Hossain said, ‘When the economy is under pressure and inflation is on the rise, the government has to take innovative measures to give some relief to the poor. Instead of doing that, the government is fueling inflation by repeatedly increasing the price of electricity and gas associated with the production process of daily necessities.’
Mentioning that people are now paying the price for the government’s wrong policies in the gas, electricity and energy sectors, Zahid Hossain further said, ‘Government is running out of money due to the creation of more wasteful sectors in the power sector. The government is repeatedly increasing the price of electricity and gas to save money.
Last Monday, Minister of State for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid said that the government will adjust the price of electricity every month. When Dr. drew attention to this matter. Zahid Hossain said, “When the price of gas and fuel increased abnormally due to the war in Ukraine, some European countries including England and Germany increased the price of electricity. Apart from this, there is no precedent for adjusting the price of electricity every month. Adjustments are made when the prices of gas and fuel oil rise and fall in the international market. But in our country, if it increases in the international market, it is increased but if it decreases, it is not reduced.
Incidentally, the average price per unit has been increased by 5 percent at the consumer level, while at the wholesale level it has increased by 8 percent. In the last 14 years, the price of electricity has increased for the 11th time at the consumer level.
Earlier, BERC increased electricity prices by 19.92 percent at the wholesale level last November. It was implemented from December. This was the tenth wholesale price increase in 14 years. After that six power distribution companies applied to BERC to increase the retail prices from December.
