The government has decided to reduce rice import duty for the private sector by 37.5 per cent to 25 per cent from 62.5 per cent amid a price surge of the key food staple in the country.
The decision came during an online meeting on rice, organised by the food ministry at its office in Dhaka city, on Sunday.
Importers who want to import rice have to apply to the food ministry by January 01 next year, said Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder at the meeting.
They, however, cannot import rice as much as they wish, as he mentioned that a certain amount of rice import would be allowed under the government monitoring.
The prime minister had on Thursday given the permission to slash the import duty on rice for the private sector, Mr Majumder added.
The government has already finalised the procedures to import 0.4 million tonnes of rice through open tender system and G2G system to raise its supply in the markets, according to the minister.
A likely fall in rice output during Aman season and a decline in its stocks have recently triggered its price surge hurting people, especially commoners.
The government rice stock has declined to just 0.54 million tonnes this December compared to that of 0.9 million tonnes in the same month of last year, according to the Directorate General of Food (DGoF).
Prices of rice in the city market are now retailing 17 to 48 per cent higher than that a year ago, according to state-owned Trading Corporation of Bangladesh.
Coarse and medium varieties are retailing at Tk 50-58 a kg in the city markets, which TCB says is the second highest rice price since September 2017.
Food Secretary Moshammat Nazmanara Khanum and DGoF Director General Sarwar Mahmud, among others, spoke at the meeting.