It continued duty free benefit on import of essential commodities like rice, wheat, onion, peas and gram, life-saving drugs including insulin, and fertilisers.

The import duty slabs have been fixed at 10 percent, 15 percent and 25 percent instead of previous 5 percent, 12 percent and 25 percent.

Duty on import of raw sugar has been re-fixed at Tk 4,000 per tonne instead of Tk 2,250.

The new budget imposed fixed duty of Tk 20,000 and Tk 39,000 per tonne on import of base lubricating oil and finished lubricants.

Import of cement clinker has been included in the mandatory pre-shipment inspection system to prevent tax evasion.

In order to remove inconsistency in the existing tariff structure, zero duty on textiles machinery and computer and computer accessories has been withdrawn in the proposed budget. Duty exemption on import of telecommunications equipment and liquid dielectric transformer has also been withdrawn.

Ten percent customs duty has been imposed on all pumps including those used for agricultural work to avoid mis-declaration and misuse of duty facilities.

Customs duty on import of formalin and stearic acid has been enhanced to 25 percent from 12 percent. The dealer's commission discount rate of used reconditioned cars has been increased to 30 percent from 25 percent.

Finance Adviser Mirza Azizul Islam also proposed rationalising the duty structure of manufactured products and raw materials.

Customs duty on CNG-driven lorries has been reduced to 10 percent from 25 percent while duty on CNG-driven completely-built unit bus has been increased to 15 percent from 5 percent to develop the local assembling industry.

Sixty percent supplementary duty has been imposed on SIM card and different kinds of plastic products. Customs duty on the raw materials used for manufacturing plastic products has been reduced.

The bonding period for export of export-oriented industries has been extended to two years.

Customs duty on electronic cash registers has been withdrawn completely. The 25 percent customs duty on finished products has been kept unchanged for making local commodities internationally competitive.