The price of mobile phones will rise as the government proposed a 5% value-added tax (VAT) on its purchases on Thursday.
"I propose to abolish the present 5% VAT exemption on mobile phone sets at the trade stage," Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal stated in his budget address.
Currently, there is a 58% tax on smartphone imports, while domestically assembled and produced phones range between 3%-27%.
In the fiscal year 2020-21, the total number of domestically made and imported phones was Tk4.12 crore.
