Govt to buy 3.3cr litres of soya oil from foreign firms

The government plans to purchase 3.30 crore litres of soybean oil from two foreign refiner companies at a cost of Tk 136 per litre so that it can supply the key cooking ingredient to low-income families at subsidised rates.

The state-owned Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) will procure 2.20 crores litres of soybean oil from Polaska Spzoo Food Stuff Trading LLC of the United Arab Emirates through the company's local agent, Shan Trading Limited.

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Another 1.1 crore litres of the oil will be bought from Haque Group, a local agent of Canada INC. The purchase has been approved in the direct procurement method at a cost of Tk 449 crore without issuing any tender.

The Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase (CCGP) at a meeting with Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal in chair approved the proposal yesterday, according to a statement from the finance ministry.

The government has moved forward with this plan as they have already started to sell essentials to one crore low-income families countrywide through TCB cards at subsidised rates.

In the current phase, low-income groups would be able to buy two litres of soybean oil at Tk 110 per litre as the government will give a subsidy of Tk 26 per litre.

In the meeting, the CCGP approved the purchase of 30,000 tonnes of bagged granular urea fertilizers in the second phase from Kafco Bangladesh at a cost of Tk 157.32 crore.

The Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC) under the industries ministry will import each tonne at a cost $557.87 while its previous price rate was $567 per tonne.

The BCIC will then purchase 30,000 tonnes of bulk granular urea fertilizers from the SABIC Agri-nutrients Company of Saudi Arabia in the third phase at a total cost of Tk 158.15 crore. Earlier, the price was 597.5 per tonne.

Meanwhile, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved in principle two proposals for state-to-state fertilizer imports.

Under these contracts, BCIC will procure 3.6 lakh metric tonnes of urea fertiliser from Fertiglobe Distribution Ltd in the UAE and Qatar while the Bangladesh Agriculture Development Corporation (BADC) will import one lakh tonnes of MOP fertiliser from Falco General Trading LLC in the UAE.

However, to begin imports by stretching prices, the two proposals will need final approval from the CCGP.

In response to a query on the flow of remittance through the Hundi market, Finance Minister Kamal said that he does not have an exact idea about it.

"When I was the planning minister, we conducted a study on it and found that around 49 per cent of the remittance usually comes through hundi," he said.

"We now offer incentives to increase the flow of remittance through official channels," Kamal added.

The finance minister then said that a large amount of black money is generated in the country due to the existing system.

But in the current budget, the government allowed citizens who have cash squirrelled away in foreign shores to bring them back home by paying 7 per cent tax.

Kamal believes that through this initiative, the government will bring back handsome amounts to the country.