The government has withdrawn import duty on onion and reduced that on sugar by 10 per cent in a bid to stabilise the prices of the two essential items.
The Internal Resources Division (IRD) under the Ministry of Finance issued two separate gazettes in this regard on Thursday evening.
While the customs duty on onion import was withdrawn, the regulatory duty on sugar import was cut down to 20 per cent from 30 per cent.
The decision came as the prices of the daily essentials kept soaring in the local market.
Govt withdraws onion import duty; 10% slash for sugar
As per the latest information, the onion is selling at Tk70-80 per kg, up from Tk40 a month ago.
Earlier this week, the Ministry of Commerce urged the National Board of Revenue (NBR) to withdraw customs duty on onion import, aiming to keep its price stable in the market.
The ministry also urged the NBR to slash import duties on crude soybean oil, palm oil and sugar to cool the overheated domestic market.
Source: United News of Bangladesh