Staff Reporter :
Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) has sought Tk 600 crore from its enterprises — Padma, Meghna and Jamuna — for importing petroleum fuel to avoid huge bank loan interests.
“We have already sought Tk 200 crore each from Padma, Meghna and Jamuna oil companies to meet the immediate fund crisis,” BPC Chairman Eunusur Rahman has said.
He said the BPC has sought Tk 4,721.73 crore from the Finance Division. Of the amount, it got only Tk 600 crore. To meet the immediate gap, the corporation moved to mobilise fund from its three enterprises, he said.
The BPC sought the amount from the Finance Division as per the decision of the Energy and Mineral Resources Division (EMRD) during a recent meeting with State Minister for Power and Energy Nasrul Hamid in the chair.
“BPC would require the said fund to pay cargo LC rates, repay loans of Islamic Trade and Finance Corporation (ITFC) and also syndicated banks loans.”
In July this year, the BPC borrowed Tk 1,354 crore from the three state-owned banks — Sonali, Agrani and Janata — at 15 to 16 percent interest rates while another Tk 1,152 crore was borrowed in August also from the same banks to minimise its fund constraints.
The BPC chairman said that the corporation would require one-and-a-half months to collect sales proceeds of petroleum fuel. At the same time, around Tk 4,800 crore bills will remain outstanding from petroleum fuel sales during the transit period.
BPC is looking for the fund so desperately that its officials requested the state minister for Power and Energy to withdraw bar on IMF loan ceiling if the government fails to provide the required fund.
The meeting was also informed that the BPC is yet to get Tk 8,053.28 crore fund that it had to bear as subsidy for selling imported petroleum fuel during the years between 1999 and 2013.
It was also told that the BPC received Tk 2,477.60 crore from the government as subsidy during the last fiscal year but it deposited Tk 4,000 crore as tax and Vat to the national exchequer.
The BPC would require $2,364.50 million to import a total of 27.20 lakh tonnes of petroleum fuels required for the next six months, a BPC official said.
Besides, another fund worth $1,080.01 million would be required to repay loans received from the ITFC under a deferred payment support facility and also another loans through syndication of banks, he said.
The BPC at present suffers a shortage of Tk 4,721.73 crore as it needs total $3,444.51 million to repay loans and make payments to petroleum fuel suppliers for ensuring uninterrupted fuel supply for power plants, BPC sources said.
