‘Why should we continue subsidies?’

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday said consumers should pay the actual purchasing cost of gas and electricity to avail the utilities' supply.

"Gas and electricity supply can be provided if all agree to pay the purchasing costs. How much subsidy can be given? And why should we continue subsidies?" she said, adding that the government is providing subsidies to agriculture and food production for the nation's greater interest .

The PM said this while opening the newly constructed "Biniyog Bhaban" (Investment Building) of Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) in the capital's Agargaon.

The Investment Building would be used as offices of three agencies -- BIDA, Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (BEZA), and National Skills Development Authority (NSDA).

Hasina said the production cost of electricity per kilowatt is Tk 12, but its price is only Tk 6. "Despite this, the government is criticised for electricity tariff."

In the UK, electricity price has increased by 150 percent. "We have not yet reached that stage [such a bad situation]," she said.

The PM asked the countrymen to make larger investments in the food and agro-processing industries, particularly in the 100 economic zones that are now being developed throughout the country.

She said there is a high demand for food in the world due to the fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic and the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.

Food prices have soared significantly, she said.

PM's Private Industry and Investment Adviser Salman Fazlur Rahman presided over the event.

BIDA Executive Chairman Lokman Hossain Miah delivered the welcome speech.