Finance Minister Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury is presenting the 2026-27 budget in parliament, beginning at about 3pm on Thursday. It is the BNP government’s first budget of this term. The budget proposes duty breaks on various goods and services, creating scope to lower their prices, while proposing higher duties on some others, raising the prospect of price rises. Budget duty proposals take effect immediately on announcement. Overall, the number of goods getting duty cuts is larger.
Prices may rise. Cigarettes: the finance minister proposed setting the minimum retail price per 10 sticks at 62 taka for the low tier, 92 taka for the medium tier, 160 taka for the high tier and 210 taka for the premium tier — raising cigarette prices. He proposed a 350 percent supplementary duty on nicotine granules and nicotine pouches, calling them highly harmful to public health. Fuel cars: to curb the use of diesel, octane and petrol cars, the tax incidence on imported mid-range internal-combustion-engine cars of 1,200 to 1,600cc has been proposed to rise from 132.36 percent to about 156 percent, raising their prices. Imported cashews: import duty on unprocessed and processed cashews has been raised from 1 percent and 5 percent to 25 percent (15 percent for domestic producers’ unprocessed imports), so foreign cashew prices will rise. Imported pangas fillet: a 20 percent supplementary duty has been imposed to protect the domestic fish-processing industry. Imported LPG cylinders: import-stage VAT has been imposed on composite LPG cylinders, which may raise prices. Imported honey: the minimum dutiable value has been raised by 2 dollars per unit to 7 dollars. Imported betel nut: the minimum dutiable value has been raised by 0.25 dollars per unit. Imported food: dutiable values on sugar confectionery, coffee, prepared foods and the like have been raised at various rates. Dutiable values on imported lip liner and gel lip liner, lip gel and similar products have also been raised. Rod: VAT on rod-making materials has been raised, which may raise rod prices. Other duty and dutiable-value increases may raise prices on imported tiles, sanitaryware and basins, foreign foam, foreign microwave ovens, cycles and parts, and toys.
Prices may fall. 60 essentials: the finance minister proposed cutting the source-tax rate on 60 essentials — paddy, rice, wheat, potatoes, livestock, poultry, fish, onion, garlic, ginger, salt, sugar, edible oil, seeds and more — from 5 percent, 2 percent and 1 percent to 0.5 percent, saying the step would bring relief in keeping with the democratic government’s election pledge after the runaway price rises of recent years. Baby food: import duty on baby-food preparation materials has been cut from 15 percent to 10 percent (as industrial raw material), which the finance minister said would lower retail baby-food prices. Spices: the 5 percent regulatory duty on cumin, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, pepper, coriander and other spices has been fully withdrawn. Dates: the 5 percent regulatory duty on date imports has been fully withdrawn. Gold ornaments: the source tax on gold supply has been cut from 5 percent to 0.5 percent; with VAT previously at 5 percent, VAT on 2.5 lakh taka of gold came to 12,500 taka, now reduced to 2,500 taka per bhori. Electric vehicles: EVs have been given various facilities, creating scope to cut their prices substantially — the tax incidence has been cut from 93 percent to 64 percent for values up to 25,000 US dollars and 80 percent for values up to 50,000 US dollars, with breaks for new plug-in hybrid EVs and reduced advance income tax on EV registration and renewal at the BRTA; major breaks have also been given on batteries and other equipment for EV charging stations. Laptops and computers: all import duty, regulatory duty, supplementary duty and VAT have been withdrawn on laptops, desktop computers, servers, printers and monitors. Kidney dialysis: the 15 percent VAT and 5 percent advance income tax on dialysis-filter imports have been withdrawn, which the finance minister said would cut the cost of each dialysis session for kidney patients by up to about 800 taka. Medicines: various breaks have been given on raw-material imports, and concessions extended to nine new raw materials for making cancer drugs. Musical instruments: the existing 5 percent regulatory duty on guitars, pianos, violins and the like and their parts has been fully withdrawn. Cinematographic cameras: import duty on cinematographic cameras and projector spare parts has been cut from 15 percent to 5 percent. Other duty cuts and dutiable-value changes may lower prices on foreign meat, animal feed, point-of-sale (POS) machines, solar-power equipment, lipstick, face wash and other cosmetics, and various other goods.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report