Budget to Increase Tobacco Use and Health Expenditure
The proposed national budget for FY 2023-24, if adopted, will once again make tobacco products cheaper than essential commodities. It will encourage the youth into using tobacco products, increase tobacco-related deaths and illness, and therefore spike the public health expenditure of the government. The proposed budget, being at odds with the proposals of anti-tobacco activists, will cause the government to lose the chances of earning additional revenues and will also hinder the realization of a tobacco-free Bangladesh, as envisioned by the Honorable Prime Minister.
The proposed budget has increased the prices of 10 sticks of low-tier cigarettes from BDT 40 to BDT 45, which shows an increase of only BDT 0.50 (12.50 percent) in the price per stick. As the budget has proposed to increase o...