The proposed budget for the FY 2026–27 was announced on Thursday afternoon. Due to various duty and tax reductions on imports, the prices of several goods and services are likely to decrease. Particularly, essential commodities, electronic goods, ICT products, medical equipment, agricultural inputs, electric vehicles, dates, spices, and raw materials for various industries are expected to be directly affected.

Rice, pulses, edible oil, onions, and 60 essential goods

The government has taken a major pro-people initiative to reduce the cost of living and control runaway inflation. The budget proposes a significant reduction in withholding tax on 60 essential and basic agricultural products, including rice, pulses, edible oil, and onions. This is aimed at bringing relief to consumers under a democratic government initiative.

The withholding tax on various essential and agricultural products previously ranged between 5 percent, 2 percent, and 1 percent depending on the item. The new proposal seeks to reduce all such rates uniformly to just 0.5 percent.

Dates

To provide relief to consumers during Ramadan and throughout the year, a proposal has been made to fully withdraw the existing 5 percent regulatory duty on date imports. This is expected to reduce import costs and slightly lower market prices.

All types of spices

A proposal has also been made to withdraw the 5 percent regulatory duty on all spice imports. This may have a positive impact on the market for imported spices such as cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, and black pepper.

Baby food

The import duty on raw materials used in baby food production has been proposed to be reduced from 15 percent to 10 percent. This could lower production costs for locally manufactured baby food, making it more affordable and accessible to consumers.

Fertilisers

A proposal has been made to withdraw the 7.5 percent VAT at the trader level for fertilisers. Zero percent duty has also been proposed on the import of zinc ash, a raw material used in zinc sulfate fertiliser production.

Pesticides

The proposal also includes full VAT exemption on raw materials used in pesticide production and the waiver of 7.5 percent advance tax on imported pesticides. This may help reduce production costs for farmers.

Poultry Equipment

A proposal has been made to set the import duty on machinery and spare parts for the poultry and dairy sectors at zero percent. Farmers are likely to obtain equipment and spare parts at lower prices.

Kidney Dialysis Filter

A kidney dialysis filter is a critical and essential medical device used to save the lives of a large number of kidney patients and ensure the continuity of dialysis treatment. A proposal has been made to withdraw 15 percent VAT and 5 percent advance income tax on kidney dialysis filters. This may reduce the cost of each dialysis session by up to BDT 800, according to government estimates.

Blood Tubing Set

A proposal has been made to withdraw the 7.5 percent advance tax on the import of blood tubing sets used in haemodialysis.

Heart Stent

A proposal has been made to withdraw 10 percent VAT on the supply of heart stents. This may reduce the price of each stent by up to BDT 20,000.

Intraocular Lens

If VAT is withdrawn on intraocular lenses, the price of each lens may decrease by up to BDT 5,000.

Mortuary Equipment

A proposal has been made to reduce import duty on mortuary equipment used for preserving dead bodies from 25 percent to 1 percent.

Cancer Medicines

A proposal has been made to set import duty and VAT at zero percent on 9 new raw materials used in the production of anti-cancer medicines.

Pharmaceuticals

A proposal has been made to fully withdraw import duties on 51 new raw materials used in the production of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API). This is expected to reduce medicine prices in the market.

Pharmaceutical Industry Raw Materials

To sustain export growth in Bangladesh’s pharmaceutical sector, a proposal has been made to expand the existing exemption facility by including 17 additional essential raw materials and setting their import duty at zero percent.

Laptops, Desktops, and Printers

To build a developed Bangladesh and expand employment in the ICT sector, a proposal has been made to withdraw all import duties, regulatory duties, supplementary duties, and VAT on laptops, desktop computers, servers, computer printers, and computer monitors.

Laptops, desktops, printers, and related IT equipment

To support a developed Bangladesh and expand employment in the ICT sector, it has been proposed to withdraw all import duties, regulatory duties, supplementary duties, and VAT on laptops, desktop computers, servers, computer printers, and computer monitors.

Computer SSDs

It has been proposed to withdraw all regulatory duties, supplementary duties, and VAT on SSD imports, except for a 5 percent import duty.

Servers

It has been proposed to fully exempt import duties and taxes on servers.

POS machines

It has been proposed to reduce import duty on point-of-sale machines from 10 percent to 5 percent and set the advance tax at zero percent. This is expected to have a positive impact on the market.

Electric vehicles (EVs)

It has been proposed to reduce the total tax burden on electric vehicles priced up to $25,000 from 93 percent to 64 percent, and to set the tax burden at 80 percent for vehicles priced up to $50,000. This may reduce EV prices.

Plug-in hybrid vehicles

It has been proposed to reduce the total tax burden on plug-in hybrid vehicles up to 1800 cc from 93.16 percent to 73.43 percent.

EV chargers and charging stations

The budget proposed a full withdrawal of the existing 39.75 percent tax burden on electric vehicle chargers and charging stations, which may make services more affordable.

Guitars, pianos, violins

The budget also proposed to withdraw the 5 percent regulatory duty on importing musical instruments and related equipment.

Cinema cameras

It has been proposed to reduce import duty on high-tech cinematographic cameras from 15 percent to 5 percent in the proposed budget.

For persons with special needs

The budget proposed to fully exempt import duties, regulatory duties, supplementary duties, and advance taxes on 21 types of assistive devices used to support independent mobility.