BGMEA has urged to Prime Minister’s Advisor on Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Tawfiq-e-Ilahi and Minister of State for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid for uninterrupted gas supply to the industry by gradually increasing the price of gas. A letter signed by BGMEA President Faruque Hassan was sent to the concerned office on January 24.
It is said in the letter that the garment industry has been playing an important role in the economy of Bangladesh besides earning foreign exchange. At present, about 83 percent of the country’s total export income is earned through the export of ready-made garments and about 4 crore people of the country are directly and indirectly dependent on this industry.
In the letter, he said, “With the sincere support of the government, the garment industry has turned around to face the crisis during Corona. The Russia-Ukraine war is creating a global crisis. Fuel is needed to run the production. The operations as per the export orders are undeniable. The production activities in the garment factories are severely disrupted due to irregular supply of electricity and gas.”
In this situation, the government issued a notification on January 12, 2023 increasing the price of gas at an abnormal rate. A few days before this, the retail price of electricity was also increased.
He wrote, “Due to this abnormal price increase, the price of raw materials has already increased in the domestic market and at the same time the cost of production of garments has also increased. As a result, it has become impossible to survive in the competition. Bank loan interest rates have also increased as inflation has increased and will continue to increase. As a result, it will be difficult to sustain the garment industry.”
In this situation, without increasing the abnormal price of gas, he said that system loss, meter reading, illegal connection, etc. should be stopped seriously, i.e. system loss should be brought to zero quota. He requested the withdrawal of customs duty and VAT on imported energy products for the next one year to ease the global crisis.
Taking into account the current economic recession the prices should be gradually increased to a tolerable level without increasing the prices all at once. In such a situation, the letter specifically requested to take necessary measures for uninterrupted gas supply for the sake of production activities in the garment industry.
