Speakers at a Journalists’ Workshop
Staff Reporter, Dhaka : With a view to achieving tobacco-free Bangladesh, all types of tobacco products, particularly low- priced cigarettes, must be taken out of people’s purchasing power by imposing specific taxes in the upcoming national budget for FY 2023-24. Simultaneously, the draft amendment of tobacco control law must be finalized. Speakers made such demands today (10 May 2023, Wednesday) during a journalists’ workshop titled “Tobacco Taxes and Price Measure: Budget 2023-24”, held at the auditorium of Economic Reporters’ Forum of the Capital. The event was jointly organized by PROGGA (Knowledge for Progress) and ATMA (Anti-Tobacco Media Alliance). A total of 26 journalists from print, TV, and online media attended the workshop.

Speakers said, The draft amendment of tobacco control law has already been sent to the Cabinet for approval. The longer it takes to finalize the amendment, the higher will be the deaths and financial losses caused by tobacco.

Speakers said, the goal of raising additional revenue, as set by the IMF as conditions of its loan, can be met by effectively raising tobacco taxes and prices. 75 percent of all cigarette users belong to the low-tier. However, the supplementary duty imposed on this tier stands at 57 percent only. In the workshop, speakers urged the government to hike the retail price of the low-tier cigarettes to BDT 55 for 10 sticks from the existing BDT 40, followed by BDT 35.75 as specific supplementary duty (65 percent of the final retail price).

In the medium-tier of cigarettes, the retail price should be hiked to BDT 70 for 10 sticks from existing BDT 65, followed by BDT 45.50 as a specific supplementary duty; and in the high-tier, the retail price and supplementary duty for 10 sticks should be BDT 120 (from existing BDT 111) and 78.00 respectively. In the premium tier, the numbers should be increased to BDT 150 (prices for 10 sticks) from existing BDT 142 and BDT 97.50 (specific supplementary duty). The prices for bidi, gul and zarda should be raised accordingly to push those products out of people’s affordability.

It was also said that the implementation of the tax and pricing proposals of anti-tobacco organizations would raise BDT 9,600 crores in additional revenues and prevent the premature deaths of 4.88 lakh adults and 4.92 lakh youths.

During the workshop, Mr. Hasan Shahriar, Head of Programs presented the budget proposal. The discussants of the event include Dr. Mahfuz Kabir, Research Director of Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS), Md. Abdus Salam, Program Manager, Campaign for Tobacco-free Kids (CTFK) Bangladesh, Liton Haider, Convener, ATMA, Mizan Chowdhury, Co-convener of ATMA, and ABM Zubair, Executive Director, PROGGA.