BANGLADESH

Truck fare has increased in the recent price spiral after fuel costs rose from Sunday midnight.

Businessmen fear that essential commodities will also see a rise in prices, set off by the fuel price rise since they are directly related to transport costs. They said that trucks are charging Tk 1,000 to Tk 3,000 more to ferry goods.

The businessmen also admit that the additional charge will have a negative impact on people's buying capacity.

Abdur Razzak, owner of Rashid and Sons in Moulvibazar, told bdnews24.com that earlier it used to cost Tk 17,000 to transport goods from Chittagong to Dhaka by truck. It rose to Tk 20,000 from Sunday.

"I must include the additional costs with my purchase costs. As a result, prices of every kilogram of flour will increase by Tk 1."

Abul Hashem, vice-president of Bangladesh Sugar Merchants Association and owner of Banijyo Bitan in Moulvibazar, told bdnews24.com that they were being charged Tk 800 to 1000 more to transport goods from Meghnaghat.

Another office bearer of the sugar merchants association said one trip from Meghnaghat was costing Tk 5,500, up from the previous Tk 4,500.

He believed the edible oil and sugar prices would rise due to the higher transport charges. "But, the businessmen will not be responsible for the increase," he said.

Jahan Shams Tulu, a spice trader, said spices had not gotten costlier. "But the higher truck fare may have a slight impact."

Mohammad Nasir, a wholesale rice trader of Rangpur, said that the truck fare to transport rice from Rangpur to Dhaka was earlier Tk 14,250, but they were being charged Tk 1000 more from Sunday.

The government on Sunday raised the prices of diesel, kerosene, petrol and octane by Tk 5 a litre and furnace oil by Tk 8, which took effect from Sunday midnight.

Earlier, prices of diesel and kerosene were Tk 46 a litre, petrol Tk 76, octane Tk 79 and furnace oil Tk 42.

Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission also raised the price of CNG to Tk 30 the next day. The new CNG price, a 20 percent rise, came into effect from Monday midnight.

A BERC circular on Monday said it hiked the price fearing that some CNG-run transports could raise their fares even though CNG prices had not been raised. This would have caused law and order situation to deteriorate, the circular said.

Meanwhile, the price of feed gas (gas fields to distributors) was raised to Tk 23 from Tk 18. The last CNG price hike was on May 12, by 49.25 percent – to Tk 24.90 from Tk 16.75 per unit.

The government on Monday also increased bus and auto-rickshaw fares. Bus and minibus passengers now have to pay an additional Tk 0.05 paisa per kilometre while CNG-run auto-rickshaw passengers Tk 0.14 per km, according to the revised fares that came into effect Monday midnight.

The fare per km on buses is now Tk 1.60, while on minibuses it is Tk 1.50. The minimum fare on buses (Tk 7) and minibuses (Tk 5) remain unchanged.

As for CNG-run auto-rickshaw fares Tk 25 remain unchanged for the first two kilometres. The recent hike saw fare for the subsequent kilometres go up to Tk 7.64 from Tk 7.50. Waiting charge was also increased by Tk 0.05 to Tk 1.40 per minute.

Auto-rickshaw deposit fee of Tk 600, was not changed either.