The government is going to purchase 30,000 tonnes of Muriate of Potash (MoP) fertiliser from Russia as the third lot of its contract to buy 2.70 lakh tonnes of the crop production input from the world’s largest fertiliser exporter.
The Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase, chaired by Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal, yesterday approved the proposal to purchase MoP at a cost Tk 150 crore from Russia’s JSC Foreign Economic Corporation “Prodintorg”.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star’s Google News channel. The decision comes at a time when Moscow is facing economic sanctions by western countries after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“We have a good relationship with Russia. We always take fertiliser from them. It’s nothing new. If Russia won’t give us the product for any reason, we have to find alternative sources. Until then, we will stick to the earlier decision,” Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal told the media after the meeting.
Regarding payment, he said that if making payment is not possible through SWIFT, they hope the war will end soon.
“On that consideration, we approved the proposal. Along with that, we have considered alternative ways,” he said.
“If the payment is not possible through SWIFT, we will pay by the currency SWAP, and consider it along with other alternative ways,” Kamal added.
The Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation under the agriculture ministry inked the deal with the Russian agency in October 2021 to buy 2.70 lakh tonnes of MoP in order to meet part the domestic requirement for the crop production input.
Growers used 7.98 lakh tonnes of MoP in the last fiscal year out of the total application of 52 lakh tonnes of fertiliser in the fiscal year 2020-21, according to the agriculture ministry.
Asked about oil prices, Kamal said that everybody knows why oil prices increase. The government always gives subsidies in this sector and tries to impose a part of the increasing portion on the consumer.
The government needs to pay huge subsidies as a result.
The line ministries should publish how much subsidies are needed, he added.
