The Centre for Policy Dialogue on Saturday suggested that the government should not increase the prices of electricity and gas right now considering probable negative impact on production and investment in the country. ‘We are not in favour of raising prices of electricity and gas right now as there are no reasons to do so,’ CPD distinguished fellow Debapriya Bhattacharya said at a press briefing on the state of the Bangladesh economy in the fiscal year of 2014-2015 held at the CIRDAP auditorium in Dhaka.
Price hike of the products will put negative impact on production that will further affect country’s stagnant investment situation, he said.
He said that boosting private sector investment in the country was the most important issue for achieving the targeted GDP growth rate in the current fiscal year and higher growth rate at 8 per cent in the coming years.
Considering the falling trend in the prices of petroleum products on the international markets and subsidy requirement in the country, there is no necessity of price hike of electricity and gas, he said.
The CPD said that any additional subsidy would not be needed in the year due to the fall of petroleum price on the international markets.
Though the government has declined to slash the administered price of petroleum products, it has already taken steps to increase the prices of electricity and gas, government officials said.
The Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission is going to organise public hearings on electricity price hike from January 20 to 25 while the hearings on gas prices are also expected to be held during the month, officials said.
CPD executive director Mustafizur Rahman spoke, among others, at the briefing.
-With New Age input
