STAR BUSINESS REPORT

The fresh gas price hike has become a major challenge for local industries at a time when they are at risk of experiencing a fall in exports to the US due to the new Trump tariffs, a trade expert said yesterday.

New tariff rates and an increase in gas prices are not good decisions to encourage new investments, said Shams Mahmud, a former president of the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

“The government’s gas price hike for new industries, following Trump’s tariff rate announcement, has made us even more anxious,” he added.

He made the comments at an event titled “The Emerging Landscape of Trade: Trump’s Reciprocal Tariff and Its Implications for Bangladesh” at the Bishwo Shahitto Kendro in Dhaka, organised by the Dacca Institute of Research and Analytics.

From now on, new industrial gas connections will have to pay Tk 40 per cubic metre, up from Tk 30, Mahmud said.

“It does not make any sense to open new factories at a time when the gas price is rising,” he said.