The cabinet committee on government purchase on Tuesday approved a proposal from Petrobangla to import a cargo of liquefied natural gas from the international spot market to Bangladesh.

M/S Total Energies Gas and Power Ltd of Switzerland will supply the cargo equivalent to 33.6 lakh MMBtu LNG with per unit costing US 10.88 dollars.

Finance minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali presided over the meeting at the secretariat, the first one under the new cabinet formed on January 11.

The approval means the government will import the third cargo for the current calendar year.

The country has been importing LNG since 2018.

The government brought in around 24 cargoes from the spot market to meet the demand for gas in the recently concluded 2023, featured by the severe dollar shortage and high inflation.