Bangladesh forms oil price setting group

The Bangladesh government has approved the establishment of an oil price setting committee that will adjust domestic prices to reflect oil price movements in the international market, a government official said. The eight-member committee will be headed by the chairman of Bangladesh Petroleum Corp. and include officials from the power, finance, communications, agriculture and industries ministries. The committee will adjust fuel prices every six months, but if the difference between international and domestic prices is more than 5%, an adjustment will be made immediately, said a BPC official. The move is an effort by the government to streamline price setting, which earlier was arbitrarily carried out by BPC. (May 2, 2007)