Chairman of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) yesterday said the tax hike on imported sugar in the proposed 2015-16 fiscal budget was a printing mistake.
Nojibur Rahman said the error would be corrected through discussions with the parliament secretariat.
The NBR chief made the statement while speaking at a post-budget conference in the city’s Osmani Memorial Auditorium in Dhaka in the presence of Finance Minister AMA Muhith.
Though the minister did not mention the increased taxation on imported sugar while presenting the budget in parliament on Thursday, a chart in the budget document showed the hike.
This raised questions during the press conference, when the finance minister thanked journalists for pointing it out and assured that the provision of duty hike would not be included in the finance bill.
According to the chart, specific duty on the import of raw sugar was doubled to Tk4,000 per tonne from existing Tk2,000 while for refined sugar the duty was proposed at Tk8,000 from Tk4,500. The chart also mentioned the increased duty to be effective from August 1, 2015.
However, the blunder in the budget chart did not have any impact on the sugar prices in the local kitchen markets.
While visiting several kitchen markets in the city, the Dhaka Tribune found that locally produced refined sugar was being sold at Tk45 per kg while the imported type was selling at Tk40.
Shopkeepers said they were selling sugar at these prices even before the budget was declared.
“Prices are stable now as there is a huge supply of sugar in the market against the demand,” said Shahadat, a salesman at Mohammadpur’s Krishi Market in the capital.
Meanwhile, Rakib of Al-Amin Store at Karwan Bazar said though the prices were stable, they might shoot up if the wholesale value increased before the Ramadan.
Commerce Ministry officials said Bangladesh required 1.3 to 1.4 million tonnes of sugar every year while some 1.48 million was imported as of May in the current financial year.
