The government has allocated Tk 500 million to provide wages and festival allowances for workers of state-owned sugar mills, officials said.
The finance ministry recently approved the disbursement of the fund as subsidy to salvage the cash-strapped Bangladesh Sugar and Food Industries Corporation (BSFIC).
The ministry has allocated the money from the budget of current fiscal year.
Trade deficit of the BSFIC has stood at Tk 4.89 billion from FY 2010-12, according to the BSFIC data.
The state provided Tk 1.75 billion in FY 2012-13, Tk 1.35 billion in FY 2014-15 and Tk 500 million in FY 2015-16 for wages and allowances of sugar mill staff, the data showed.
The losses incurred by state-run sugar mills are gradually increasing as they are not adjusting production costs. On the other hand, the cash-strapped sugar mills are still struggling to meet regular expenses, a source said.
The country needs 1.5 million tonnes of refined sugar every year, most of which is met through imports. On an average, 0.11 million (1.1 lakh) tonnes of sugar are needed every month, according to official data.
About 1.4-1.5 million tonnes of crude sugar are imported a year which are released in the market after refining, a sugar importer said.
There are 15 sugar mills under the BSFIC across the country.
