Record BD fuel hike triggers huge queues

DHAKA: Thousands of Bangladeshis besieged fuel stations across the country after the government raised prices by as much as 52 percent, the largest jump on record, on the back of higher oil prices.

Dhaka announced on Friday that the price of petrol was going up by 51.7 percent and diesel by 42.5 percent from midnight.

Motorcycle riders raced to fuel stations nationwide to try and fill up before the price rise went into effect.

Some stations paused sales, and sporadic protests broke out.

Demonstrators said the increases will disproportionately hit the country’s tens of millions of poor people, who use diesel to power transport and farming irrigation pumps.

In Sylhet, retailers tried to impose the higher prices immediately after the hike was announced, Police Commissioner Md. Nisharul Arif told AFP.

"People gathered and protested in front of all the fuel pumps in Sylhet city." There were similar protests in other cities.