The Ministry of Finance has taken Tk 10,000 crore of Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) to the government treasury in 2 years. BPC officials said the money was paid from its own funds outside government revenue, including VAT, duties and income tax on fuel oil imports and marketing.
As part of this, in the first week of May, the state energy regulator has submitted a cheque for Tk 1,000 crore in the last installment of the current financial year. Earlier, the finance department had sent a letter to BPC from the ministry to deposit the money in the treasury.
Meanwhile, due to the transfer of the money to the government treasury, BPC may face financial difficulties in opening oil import bonds (LC) in future.
It is learned that the government has enacted a law to take the surplus money of autonomous, semi-autonomous, statutory government authorities, public non-financial corporations and self-governing bodies into the state treasury. The law was passed on February 5, 2020. The law was enacted as part of a plan to utilize a long-standing development of Tk 2,12,100 crore in 61 state-owned enterprises, mainly in the wake of the government's growing debt burden. After the law was passed on February 16 last year, the finance ministry formed a four-member committee to look into how the surplus money of state-owned autonomous organizations could be taken to the treasury. The committee sent a letter asking for an account of assets from them on February 19
According to sources, a meeting was held at the Ministry of Finance on February 25 last year to take the money of these autonomous bodies to the treasury. According to the decision of the meeting, a letter signed by a deputy secretary of the finance department of the ministry sent a letter to the BPC chairman to deposit Tk 5,000 crore in the government treasury in the 2019-20 fiscal years. Similarly, the finance ministry has sent a letter to deposit Tk 5,000 crore in the current financial year as well.
According to the relevant correspondence of the Finance Department, Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) in accordance with the provisions of Sections 4 and 5 of the Act, 2020, deposit the surplus funds of autonomous, semi-autonomous, statutory government authorities, public non-financial corporations and self-governing bodies. The first installment of the surplus fund has been asked to send a copy of the invoice to the Finance Department by depositing it in the 'Quasi Corporation Surplus Income' code.
According to BPC sources, the Eastern Refinery, a wholly owned company of BPC, is currently running an SPM project worth Tk 5.5 trillion. On the way to the implementation of the ERL-2 project worth about 19 thousand crore. Besides, BPC is implementing a Dhaka-Chattogram fuel oil pipeline project at a cost of Tk 1.5 trillion. BPC has also undertaken a project to build its head office in Chattogram.
Concerned parties say money will be needed to implement the projects. More than Tk 1,100 crore has been provided to the project implementing agency for the Dhaka-Chittagong pipeline. The ERL-2 project has not yet begun. BPC will need a large amount of funds once the construction of its physical structure starts.
According to BPC sources, "BPC imports oil to meet the country's demand for fuel oil. To import oil, one has to open a letter of credit (LC) with the bank. About 10 thousand crore taka of liquidity is required every month. BPC will still need more than Tk 20,000 crore for projects to be implemented. Therefore, if BPC regularly takes money from its own funds to the government treasury, BPC will face a crisis in fund management in the future. Especially if it does not have the availability of its own funds (money) at any moment of the international transition to import fuel for the BPC may be in trouble.
BPC General Manager (Accounts) ATM Selim said, ‘The surplus money of many state-owned autonomous organizations has been deposited in the government treasury as per the law passed in the National Assembly. In the financial year 2019-20, 5 thousand crore taka was given in 5 installments of 1 thousand crore taka. In the current financial year also, 5 thousand crore taka has been provided as per the instructions of the finance department. In the first week of May, the last installment of Tk 1,000 crore has been deposited in the treasury as scheduled.
“BPC has the necessary liquidity to import oil,” he said. Allocations have also been made for ongoing projects. The government is taking BPC unused liquidity to the treasury if necessary. The government will surely allocate if there is a demand for BPC in the future. There is nothing complicated about it. '
