The proposed national budget for FY 2023-24, if adopted, will once again make tobacco products cheaper than essential commodities, said Progga, an anti-tobacco group. The organisation in a quick reaction said the proposed budget will encourage the youths to use tobacco products, causing more tobacco-related deaths and illness, the group said. Also read: FinanceMinister unveils Tk 761,785 crore national budget It said consequently the public health expenditure of the government will increase. Criticising the proposed budget, Progga said that such provisions will cause the government to lose additional revenues while they will also hinder the realisation of a tobacco-free Bangladesh as envisioned by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. The proposed budget has increased the prices of 10-stick 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 only the base price and to keep the supplementary duty (SD) virtually unchanged, a large portion of the additional revenue will be pocketed by tobacco companies, it said. Also read: Progga concerned over tobacco industries’ ‘influence on e-cigarette research’ in Bangladesh The prices for 10 sticks of medium-tier and high-tier cigarettes have been increased to BDT 67 from existing BDT 65 (3.08 percent increase) and to BDT 113 from existing BDT 111 (1.80 percent increase) respectively in the proposed budget. In the premium tier, the price for 10 sticks of cigarettes has been set to BDT 150 from existing 142 (5.63 percent increase). While the prices for 10 grams of jarda and gul have seen an increases of BDT 5 and BDT 3 respectively, the SD imposed on these smokeless tobacco products have remained the same. In addition, the prices and SD of bidi have seen no change at all. To put the changes of tobacco products’ prices into perspective, one may consider the increases in the prices of essential commodities in recent years. According to the Department of Agricultural Marketing (DAM), a government body that reports the prices of essential goods in eight metropolitan cities of the country (Dhaka, Chattogram, Rajshahi, Khulna, Sylhet, Barishal, Rangpur, and Mymensingh), the price of loose wheat flour increased by a staggering 71.7 percent between 7 March, 2022 and 7 March, 2023. The increases in price of per KG broiler chicken, sugar, a dozen eggs, powdered milk, red lentil, and coarse rice are 52.9 percent, 43.9 percent, 22.3 percent, 21.2 percent, 14.5 percent, and 9.9 percent respectively, Progga noted. On the other hand, the increases in the prices of tobacco products in the proposed budget ranges from almost negligible to virtually none. This will make tobacco products even cheaper compared to essential commodities and pose a threat to public health, said the anti-tobacco organisation. “The base or retail price of low-tier cigarettes, which holds 75 percent of cigarette market share, has seen a negligible change. We demand that the government impose higher specific taxes on this tier and bring cigarettes out of the affordability of the people," said Progga Executive director ABM Zubair in his reaction to the proposed national budget. The proposed budget has continued the opportunity to import e-cigarettes and vape products, which will hike the health risk facing the youth. E-cigarettes and vape products must be banned through finalising the proposed amendment of tobacco control law, Progga said. The prevalence of tobacco use among Bangladeshi adults is 35.3 percent while tobacco claims 161,000 lives a year in Bangladesh. The proposals of anti-tobacco activists, if realised, will result in 1.4 million users quitting tobacco, would raise BDT 9,600 crores in additional revenues and prevent the premature deaths of 4.88 lakh adults and 4.92 lakh youths. The additional revenue will help the government meet the ambitious goals set by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for its loan assistance, it said.

Price of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) has slashed by Tk 13.42 per kg to Tk 89.48 from the previous price of Tk 102.9 for the month of June. Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) announced the new price, saying that a 12kg LPG cylinder’s price has reduced by Tk 161. A retail consumer will get it now at Tk 1,074 instead of Tk 1235 (including VAT).Prices of other sizes of LPG cylinders – from 5.5kg to 45kg – will go down rationally, Md Nurul Amin, newly appointed chairman of BERC, said at a press briefing on Thursday at the BERC office in Dhaka. The new prices will be effective from 6 pm today (June 1, 2023). BERC officials said the LPG price witnessed a rise in the local market due to the decrease in the prices of Saudi CP (contract price). Bangladeshi LPG operators normally import their products from the Middle-East market on the basis of Saudi CP. Also read: 12-kg LPG price goes up by Tk 57 to Tk 1235 As per the BERC decision, the price of “auto gas” (LPG used for motor vehicles) also dropped to Tk 50.09 (including VAT) per litre from previous Tk 57.52, down by 7.43 per litre. The price of LPG, marketed by state-owned LP Gas Company, will remain the same as it is locally produced with a market share of less than 5 percent. LPG witnessed the highest price at Tk 1,498 (per 12kg cylinder) in the local market in February this year following the start of the Russia-Ukraine war in February last year.  

The prices of cigarettes and other tobacco products will go up as Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal proposed raising their prices while placing the national budget for 2023-24 FY. The government wants to reduce the consumption of tobacco products and increase revenue from this sector, said the Finance Minister. The Finance Minister proposed the minimum price of low slab 10-sticks or pack cigarettes at Tk 45 with a 58 percent supplementary duty. Apart from this, the minister also proposed increasing the price level of medium slab 10-sticks or pack cigarettes to Tk 67 and higher, high slab to Tk 113 and higher and premium slab to Tk. 150 and higher and the rate of supplementary duty for these three slabs to remain unchanged i.e 65 percent. Read more: Strategy being formed to turn Bangladesh into developed one: Finance Minister He also proposed bringing necessary amendments to the relevant notification. The minister proposed to keep unchanged the Maximum Retail Price (MRP) of non-filtered 25-172 stick or pack bidi at Tk. 18, 12-stick or pack bidi at tk. 9 and 8-stick or pack bidi at Tk. 6 and 30 percent supplementary duty for all. He also proposed continuing the existing minimum price of filtered 20-stick or pack bidi at Tk. 19, 10-stick or pack bidi Tk. 10 with 40 percent supplementary duty for all. The Finance Minister also proposed continuing the supplementary duty at 55 percent with an increase of Maximum Retail Price(MRP) of Jarda to Tk. 45 per 10 grams and MRP of Gul to TK. 23 per 10 Grams.

Bangladesh's Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has unveiled the national budget of Tk 761,785 crore for the fiscal year 2023–24. The finance minister rolled out the budget at the Jatiya Sangsad on Thursday (June 01, 2023). This is the 5th consecutive budget presented by the finance minister and last of the current Awami League government. The budget focuses on driving the country on an incremental economic-growth matching Bangladesh's LDC-graduation route and fulfilling the conditions of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a loan of $4.7 billion. Also read: Budget for FY 2023-24 to be placed on June 1 The proposed budget is 15.2 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Of the total proposed budget, Tk 475,281 crore is allocated for operating expenditures, and the rest, Tk 277,582 crore, for development purposes. The total revenue earnings target was set at estimated Tk 5 lakh crore, Of which, the National Board of Revenue (NBR) will collect Tk 4.30 lakh crore, and the rest will be collected from other sources. The proposed budget's overall deficit, including grants, will be Tk 257,885 crore, which is 5.2 per cent of the GDP. Read more: Budget FY23-24: Focus should be on tackling macroeconomic challenges, says Dr Atiur Rahman The inflation target is set to 6.5 percent though current inflation rate is over 9 percent.

The mild to moderate heat wave sweeping parts of the country is likely to continue for next four to five days, said Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD) on Thursday (June 01, 2023). “Mild to moderate heat wave is sweeping over Rajshahi, Rangpur, Mymensingh, Dhaka, Khulna, Barishal and Sylhet divisions and Chattogram, Rangamati, Cumilla, Chandpur, Noakhali & Feni districts and it may continue,” said a bulletin of BMD. Weather may remain mainly dry with the temporary partly cloudy sky over the country, having chances of light rain or thundershowers at one or two places over Dhaka, Barishal, Sylhet and Chattogram divisions, it said.  Read more: Dhaka ranks world’s 4th most polluted city this morning Day temperature may rise slightly in Rangpur, Rajshahi and Khulna divisions and it may remain nearly unchanged elsewhere the country. Night temperature may remain nearly unchanged over the country in 24 hours  starting from 9 am on Thursday.  The lowest temperature in the country was recorded at 24 degrees Celsius in Rangamati and Bandarban on Thursday and the highest temperature was recorded at 40 degrees Celsius in Syedpur on Wednesday. Read more: Unusually early heat wave in Pacific Northwest could break records

Three people including a couple were killed and two others injured in a road accident on Dhaka-Chattogram highway in Kazir Dighi area of Feni early Thursday. The deceased were Shimul, 30, his wife Yeasmin, 28 of Soyarampur village under Homna upazila of Cumilla and pickup van driver Abu Sayed, 29, a resident of Korpai village of Burichang upazila in the same district. The injured are Yeasmin’s father Delwar Hossain, 65 and Abu Sayed’s assistant Md Sagar, 22. Ujjal Barua, an official of Feni Fire Service and Civil Defence, said the couple was going to their new house in Cumilla’s Debidwar from Boropole area of Chattogram with their valuables in a pick-up van. The accident occurred around 2:30am when the speeding pickup van crashed into a covered van, leaving all the five critically injured, he said. Dr Raihan Uddin Chowdhury, a physician at Feni General Hospital, said three people including the couple were declared dead upon arrival. The injured are undergoing treatment and the bodies were kept at the hospital morgue for autopsy, he said. Rashed Khan Chowdhury, officer-in-charge of Fazilpur Highway police station, said legal action is being taken in this regard.

A 60-year-old unidentified motorcyclist died after being hit by a CNG-run auto-rickshaw in Bosila area of Dhaka on Thursday morning. The deceased was wearing a pant and a shirt and his identity could not be known immediately. Monir Hossain, a pedestrian who took the victim to hospital, said the accident occurred around 8am when the auto-rickshaw collided with the speeding motorcycle driven by the victim in Bosila Shahjalal Housing Area, leaving him critically injured. He was rushed to the emergency department of Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) where on-duty doctors declared him dead upon arrival around 9:30am, said the pedestrian. The body has been kept at the hospital morgue for autopsy. The local police station has been informed of this matter, said inspector Md Bachhu Miah, in-charge of the DMCH police outpost.  

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday (May 31, 2023) said that the government is making every effort to keep Bangladesh's economy alive despite the global economic recession caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and the Ukraine-Russia war. The prime minister said this while responding to a tabled question of Awami League MP elected from Chattogram MA Latif for PM’s question-answer session. She said the government has been able to quickly bring the country's economy to the pre-Covid high growth trend dealing with the recession, inflation and instability in the global economy caused by the pandemic and the war. Read more: President Erdogan and PM Hasina vow to take Dhaka-Ankara ties to new height “Amid the crisis over Covid, our growth in the financial year 2019-20 was 3.45 percent which was one of the highest in the world for that period,” she claimed. She said that due to the various steps taken by the government to boost the economy, the GDP growth in the financial year 2020-21 increased by 6.94 percent. “It further increased to 7.10 percent in FY 2021-22.” Hasina also highlighted various measures taken by the government to keep the economy of the government alive. Read more: PM calls for more Swedish investment as H&M boss calls on her These included government expenditure rationalisation, social protection, subsidies in electricity, energy and agriculture sectors, export incentives, rise in remittance inflow, monetary policy etc, she said. In response to the question of Jatiya Party MP elected from Dhaka Syed Abu Hossain, the prime minister highlighted the various steps taken by the government to control the prices of daily commodities and said as a result of the government's activities, it has been possible to control the prices of essentials and the poor people are benefiting from it. In response to the question of Jatiya Party MP elected from Pirojpur Rustam Ali Farazi, the she said that it will be possible to start rail traffic on the Dhaka-Mawa-Bhanga section of the Padma Bridge Rail Link Project by September 2023 and the Jessore section from June 2024. Read more: Work together to regain lost glory in science and technology: PM Hasina to Muslim community In response to reserved seat MP Kha Mamata Lovely's question, the prime minister said that 555,134 families have been rehabilitated through the Ashrayan project.

A National Level Stakeholder Consultation event was held today at a hotel in Gulshan, the capital city, to discuss innovation for climate disaster risk mitigation and adaptation.  The event was organized by CARE Bangladesh and focused on the Danish International Development Agency's (DANIDA) Community Led Innovation for Climate Risk Mitigation in Bangladesh (CLIMB) project. The chief guest at the event was Md. Mijanur Rahman, the Director General of the Department of Disaster Management (DDM) under the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief (MoDMR) of the Government of Bangladesh, according to a press release.  In his address, Rahman commended the resilience and innovation demonstrated by local communities in the face of limited resources. He expressed hope for a more resilient country in the future.  Salwa Jahan, the Program Officer for Communication and Political Affairs at the Royal Danish Embassy in Bangladesh, attended the event as a special guest. Ramesh Singh, the Country Director of CARE Bangladesh, and Kaiser Rejve, the Director of Humanitarian and Resilience at CARE Bangladesh, were also present. During the event, Mrityunjoy Das, the Deputy Director of Humanitarian and Resilience at CARE Bangladesh, delivered a keynote speech on "Innovation for Climate Disaster Risk Mitigation and Adaptation."  The presentation focused on addressing community challenges through community-led solutions and utilizing innovative tools and methods.  Participants of the program also shared their perspectives on innovation strategies, with a particular emphasis on critical issues such as climate change and gender. Expert representatives from organizations including The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), IOM, and ActionAid actively participated in the event. The CLIMB project, funded by DANIDA and implemented by CARE, RUPANTAR, and SHED, aims to enhance the adaptability and climate resilience of vulnerable groups affected by saline intrusion due to climate change in the southwest coastal region of Bagerhat.  Additionally, it seeks to expand the use of Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) in Cox's Bazar district to reduce the likelihood of conflicts between Rohingya refugees and host communities. Over a four-year period, the project aims to increase climate resilience and adaptive capacity in communities through locally-led green and equitable solutions, accountable service mechanisms, and measures to mitigate conflicts between refugee and host communities in Teknaf and Ukhiya, Cox's Bazar. CARE, a leading humanitarian organization operating in over 100 countries, has been working in Bangladesh since 1949. The organization's programs in Bangladesh are centered around Women and Girls' Empowerment, Health and Nutrition, Extreme Rural Poverty Reduction, and Humanitarian and Resilience. In the past year alone, CARE in Bangladesh directly reached out to 7.5 million people and indirectly impacted 32.08 million individuals through 61 projects and initiatives, with 56% of program participants being women. The National Level Stakeholder Consultation event provided a platform for experts and stakeholders to come together and discuss innovative approaches to climate disaster risk mitigation and adaptation. With the participation of key organizations and government representatives, the event aimed to foster collaboration and knowledge exchange to build a more resilient and climate-ready Bangladesh.  

Two children drowned in a pond in Sultanpur union of Cumilla’s Debidwar upazila on Wednesday. The incident took place in Chhechrapukuria village of Sultanpur union of the upazila. The deceased were identified as Md. Abir, 6, son of Aman Ullah and Rafi Hasan, 6, son of Phool Mia of Chhechrapukuria village.  They were cousins.  Abir's father Aman Ullah said, "Abir and Rafi Hasan went out to play together in the morning. Relatives started looking around when they didn't return home for a long time.”  Later, locals found their bodies floating in the pond in the afternoon, he added. Debidwar Police Station Inspector (Investigation) Khademul Bahar Abed said, "We have heard about the death of two children by drowning. No one in their family filed any complaints regarding the matter.”