The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has cut duties on onion and sugar to bring their prices under control. The duty on onion imports has been reduced from 10 per cent to 5 per cent, and the regulatory duty (RD) on sugar from 30 per cent to 20 per cent.

The NBR issued two separate notifications to this effect on Thursday.

On 11 October the commerce ministry had asked the NBR to withdraw the duty on onion and to cut the duties on crude soybean oil, palm oil and sugar. The request was made at a meeting that afternoon in the ministry's conference room at the Secretariat, held to keep the stocks, supply, imports and prices of essential goods normal and stable. Within three days, the import duties on onion and sugar were cut.

The new rates took effect from 14 October. The new sugar duty will remain in force until 28 February next year, and the new onion duty until 31 December.

Source: Ittefaq. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.