Increased energy price will lower growth rate

THE Centre for Policy Dialogue on Saturday suggested that the government should not increase the prices of electricity and gas right now considering the 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, as reported by a local daily.
Price hike of the fuel 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 percent 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.
Any sensible government would try its best to reduce the sufferings which the average citizen feels due to inflation by reducing energy prices while increasing prices of essential items like electricity very slowly. Unfortunately, the incumbent our administration has done the reverse. No sane government would want to increase its revenues to pander to public servants at the expense of the people.
It is surely not too much to hope that the government would try and control inflation and thus reduce the misery which the common citizens face as inflation reduces living standards and is the second most macroeconomic important agenda of any government — growth and employment being the first. Unfortunately Bangladeshi administrators seem to have forgotten how to live as ordinary human beings — being cosseted by the country by getting subsidized housing and schooling, among other things. It is time they thought of the plight of ordinary citizens and came down from their high horses.