Dhaka, April 13 -- Commerce Minister Khandakar Abdul Muktadir says that Bangladesh is purchasing fuel at nearly double previous prices amid an energy crisis triggered by the conflict in the Middle East.

He said, "We did not form the government with any plan for war or anticipation of such a situation, nor did we know that such havoc would arrive within 15-16 days. You need to have an idea of (the scope of) that havoc."

"LNG, which we used to buy at $10 under G2G contracts, we now have to buy from the spot market at $20. Crude oil, which we used to purchase at $50, $55, or $60, is now costing $116. Fertiliser that we used to buy at $456. we require around 2.6 million tons of urea annually. A large portion of that has to be imported becau...