The government has decided to withdraw Value Added Tax (VAT) on imports of edible oil and sugar in order to keep the two essentials affordable at consumer level.
Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal disclosed the matter after a meeting of the cabinet committee on government procurement on Thursday.
According to the Ministry of Finance, 20 per cent VAT — 15 per cent at production stage and 5 per cent at consumer level — has been exempted and the decision will remain in force till June 30.
However, the National Board of Revenue (NBR) is yet to issue any notification in this regard.
Earlier, the Ministry of Commerce sent a letter to the NBR seeking withdrawal of the 15 per cent VAT on cooking oils.
Consumers still face an unprecedented shortage of cooking oil in kitchen markets across the country, despite refiners having around 2.5 lakh tonnes of refined and unrefined oil in stock.
Traders are also charging Tk 17-Tk 30 more per litre of bottled and loose soybean oil along with palm oil.
