Products likely to see price hike

Finance minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has placed budget for 2022-23 fiscal year in parliament on Thursday.

Due to imposition of supplementary duty, import duty and Value Added Tax, prices of the following products may go up:

In order to attract domestic and foreign investment, create employment and keep the growth of domestic industrial development uninterrupted, the finance minister has proposed “Withdrawing full exemption and imposition of 5 per cent VAT at the local manufacturing stage on refrigerators and freezers and to continue existing exemption facilities on imported and local purchase of raw material and equipment till 30 June 2023.”

The minister, however, proposed extension of existing VAT exemption facility for production of compressors of refrigerators and freezers till 30 June 2025.

The prices of mobile phone sets may go up as the finance minister has proposed to withdraw the existing 5 per cent VAT exemption at trading stage of mobile phone sets.

In the interest of revenue protection, the government has proposed to impose 20 per cent supplementary duty on Processed and Ready to Consume Coffee at the import stage.

The finance minister has proposed to increase the import duty on Cellular Phone Battery Charger from 15 per cent to 25 per cent in order to further develop the domestic cellular phone manufacturing industry.

The prices of water purifiers may increase. The finance minister said, “I am proposing to increase the import duty on domestic type water purifying apparatus / machine from 1 per cent to 10 per cent, which will make the total tax incidence equal.”

The finance minister has said the country is importing exotic birds, which attracts 5 per cent import duty.

“Since birds are luxurious, I am proposing to increase the import duty from 5 per cent to 25 per cent on those.”

For the protection of domestic computer/laptop and ICT product manufacturers, the government has proposed to expand the concession facility for import of raw materials for computer accessories and ICT industry.

“Laptop computer imports are subject to VAT exemption. As a result, domestic computer manufacturers are facing uneven competition. So, I am proposing to impose 15 per cent VAT on laptop computer imports. As a result, the total tax incidence of the product will be 31 per cent,” he added.

The government has recommended to increase the total tax incidence by imposing supplementary duty on high-end luxury motor vehicles and jeeps along with chandeliers and light fittings at the import stage

The prices of cigarette and bidi may increase.

The finance minister said, “I propose to fix the price of lower slab 10-stick/pack cigarette at Tk. 40 and higher and supplementary duty at 57 per cent. Apart from this, I propose to fix the price of medium slab 10-stick/pack cigarette at Tk. 65 and higher, high slab at Tk. 111 and higher, and premium slab at Tk. 142 and higher. The rate of supplementary duty for these three slabs is proposed to be 65 per cent."

“I propose to continue existing price of non-filtered 25-stick/pack bidi at Tk. 18, 12-stick/pack bidi at Tk. 9 and 8-stick/pack bidi at Tk. 6 and 30 percent supplementary duty for all. I also propose to continue existing price of filtered 20-stick/pack bidi at Tk. 19, 10-stick/pack bidi Tk. 10 and supplementary duty 40 per cent for all," Mustafa Kamal added.