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For more than a month and half, the image of Bangladesh during the Iran war was defined by endless fuel queues. 

Motorcycles lined up for kilometres in Dhaka, transport workers spent entire nights waiting at petrol pumps, farmers struggled to secure diesel for irrigation, and delivery riders lost daily incomes while standing in queues that stretched across city blocks. 

The new Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) government repeatedly insisted there was “no real fuel shortage.” Yet panic buying, rationing, hoarding allegations and visible scarcity created one of the most disruptive energy crises Bangladesh has witnessed since the 2022 fuel shock.

Then something remarkable happened. Almost immediately after the government sharply increased fuel prices on April 19, the queues disappeared.

That single development may be the clearest evidence yet that Bangladesh’s fuel crisis was not merely a consequence of the Iran war or global supply disruptions. It was also the product of a deeply flawed energy pricing and governance structure that encouraged panic, distorted consumption, delayed market correction, and weakened public confidence.

According to government data, diesel prices jumped from Tk 100 (USD 0.82) to Tk 115 (USD 0.94) per litre, octane rose from Tk 120 (USD 0.98) to Tk 140 (USD 1.15), and petrol increased from Tk 116 (USD 0.95) to Tk 135 (USD 1.11). 

Within days, filling stations that had remained overcrowded for weeks suddenly returned to normal operations. Pump owners told Bangladesh’s Prothom Alo newspaper that increased supply and higher prices........

© The Wire