Bangladesh has asked Saudi Arabia to supply it with deferred oil as the South Asian country faces depletion of foreign exchange reserves.
Saudi Arabia supplies Bangladesh with more than half of its crude oil imports, but the latter has been hit hard by global increases in energy and food prices.
Taka also depreciated about 25 percent against the US dollar, pushing up costs for gasoline distributors and energy companies.
Last year, the country experienced power cuts up to 13 hours a day, while the government provided food assistance to families who could not afford to buy rice and other basic commodities.
At a meeting with Riyadh’s ambassador, Foreign Minister Abdul Kalam Abdul Momen asked Saudi Arabia to consider supplying crude and refined oil “on a deferred payment basis.”
Economic pressure is building as the general election, scheduled for January 2024, approaches.
For its part, the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party blamed the crisis on the government, accusing it of wasting billions of dollars on futile projects.
The party staged a series of rallies calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and early elections under a neutral administration.
The authorities raised retail electricity prices by 15%, the second such increase in three weeks, while gas prices for generators rose 178% last month.
The International Monetary Fund approved a $4.7 billion bailout package for Bangladesh.
The South Asian country’s foreign exchange reserves fell from $46 billion in January last year to $32 billion at the end of last month.
Bangladesh’s official inflation rate is around 8.7%, but independent economists say the actual rate is much higher.
Source: AFP.
