Bangladesh pvt power producers seek $1bn foreign currency to import fuel

Bangladesh’s private power producers will need $1 billion in foreign currency to import fuel oil and avert an energy crisis this summer, their industry association said in a letter to the central bank seen by Reuters.

Analysts expect power cuts in Bangladesh to worsen this year, as a rapid decline in the value of its currency and foreign exchange reserves have limited its ability to import power generation fuels, whose prices have surged following Western sanctions on major energy exporter Russia.

Outages have already hampered commercial operations in Bangladesh, hitting lucrative garment industry supplies to clients such as Walmart, Gap Inc, H&M and Inditex’s Zara.