Budget raises fears of cheaper, more accessible tobacco products: PROGGA, ATMA

Research and advocacy organisations PROGGA (Knowledge for Progress) and the Anti-Tobacco Media Alliance (ATMA) have expressed concern that without effective reforms to the tax and pricing structure for tobacco products, the use of cigarettes, bidis, jorda and gul is likely to increase in the country.

In a budget response on Thursday, June 11, the organisations said the proposed budget has increased the price of low-tier cigarettes by only Tk 2 per pack of 10 sticks, setting the new price at Tk 62. However, this increase is negligible compared to inflation and per capita income growth, effectively making low-tier cigarettes cheaper and more accessible.

According to the organisations, the price of low-tier cigarettes has been increased by only 3.33 per cent, while per capita income has risen by 10.27 per cent. This creates a risk of increased consumption of cheap cigarettes, particularly among youth and low-income populations. Currently, low-tier cigarettes dominate nearly 75 per cent of the country's cigarette market, with poor and young people as the primary consumers.

The proposed budget sets medium-tier cigarette prices at Tk 92 (from Tk 80), high-tier at Tk 160 (from Tk 140) and premium-tier at Tk 210 (from Tk 185) per pack of 10 sticks. However, PROGGA and ATMA argue that these increases are not significant compared to the rising prices of essential goods. Moreover, without reforms to the tax structure, a large portion of the increased price will remain as profits for tobacco companies.

The organisations claimed that if the low and medium-tier cigarettes were merged with a fixed price of Tk 100 per 10 sticks and a specific tax was imposed alongside the existing supplementary duty, the government could generate an additional Tk 44,000 crore in annual revenue. At the same time, approximately 4 lakh premature deaths could be prevented in the long term.

The budget has also been criticised for leaving unchanged the prices and tax rates of bidis, jorda and gul. According to the organisations, although these products are extremely harmful to health, the lack of tax increases will make them cheaper and more accessible, with negative impacts particularly on women and poor communities.

However, the proposed budget's initiatives to impose a 350 per cent supplementary duty on the import of nicotine granules and nicotine pouches, and to introduce a 'Track and Trace' system to monitor the production and supply of tobacco products, have been noted as positive steps.

PROGGA Executive Director ABM Zubair said if the proposed budget is passed, tobacco products will become cheaper and more accessible, leading to increased tobacco use among young and low-income people, which will raise tobacco-related disease and death rates.

According to the organisations' data, approximately 35.3 per cent of adults currently use some form of tobacco in Bangladesh. Tobacco-related diseases cause approximately 2 lakh deaths annually, with health and environmental damage estimated at around Tk 87,000 crore per year. PROGGA and ATMA have called for the inclusion of anti-tobacco reform proposals in the final budget to protect public health and increase government revenue.