Bangladesh plans to push the price of cigarettes to reduce smoking and increase tax revenue.
The minimum price for 10 sticks of low-tier cigarettes will be set at Tk 39, with a supplementary duty of 57 per cent.
The minimum price of mid-tier cigarettes will be set at Tk 63, high-tier cigarettes at 102, and premium tier cigarettes at Tk 135, with a supplementary duty of 65 per cent for these tiers.
The price hikes come as part of Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal’s budget proposal for fiscal year 2021-22.
The government has decided to keep the existing prices of bidi unchanged, as per a bdnews24.com report.
Currently, the minimum price of 25-stick handmade bidi is Tk 18, Tk 9 for 12-stick bidi and Tk 6 for 8-stick bidi, with a supplementary duty of 30 per cent for all three.
The price of filter-tipped bidi is Tk 19 for 20 sticks and Tk 10 for 10 sticks, with a supplementary duty of 40 per cent for both.
The prices of Jarda, Tk 40 for 10 gm, and Gul, Tk 20 for 10 gm, will also remain the same, with a supplementary duty of 55 per cent for both.
Tobacco use caused nearly 126,000 deaths in Bangladesh in 2018, accounting for 13.5 per cent of all deaths, according to a 2020 study by the Bangladesh Cancer Society and the Dhaka University Department of Economics.
The study also found that approximately 1.5 million adults were suffering from diseases attributable to tobacco use and that tobacco-induced deaths and disease cost Bangladesh Tk 305.60 billion a year.