People will have to pay more for buying mobile handsets as Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has proposed withdrawing a 5 per cent VAT exemption of mobile phone sets.  Mustafa Kamal proposed the VAT exemption while presenting the Tk 678,064 crore national budget for the financial year 2022-2023 at parliament on Thursday.  “I propose to withdraw the existing 5 per cent VAT exemption at the trading stage of mobile phone sets,” he said. Also Read: Finance Minister starts unveiling Tk 678,064 cr national budget

Fifty lakh low-income households will get food assistance of 30 kg of rice each month at the rate of Tk15. The assistance will be given in the lean seasons- September, October and November and March and April, said Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal in his budget speech on Thursday.  The national budget gives priority to enhance food production and supply chain management of food items to keep the domestic commodity market stable, said the minister. The global food production, procurement, storage and the entire supply chain including agricultural marketing systems faced unprecedented challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic, said the minister. Also Read: Finance Minister starts unveiling Tk 678,064 cr national budget Despite the crisis arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, Bangladesh is able to keep the production of agriculture uninterrupted in the country and achieve food and nutrition security thanks to the very timely initiatives of the government, he added.  The government is distributing 5 lakh MT of rice and 5.09 lakh MT of wheat flour in the current fiscal year 2021-2022 and this programme in the FY 2022-23 will continue.