Public Health on Top

To secure business advantages in the upcoming 2026–27 national budget, British American Tobacco Bangladesh (BATB) has recently submitted a letter addressed to the Finance Minister and met with the Minister on 1 May 2026 to present its proposals on cigarette taxation and pricing. BATB, along with Japan Tobacco Inc. (JTI), Philip Morris International (PMI) and Bangladesh Bidi Factory Owners' Association, also met the National Board of Revenue (NBR) in a pre-budget meeting to present proposals aligned with their business interests. Representatives of BATB also attended the NBR’s pre-budget meeting with the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI), where they put forward their demands. Similarly, Bangladesh Bidi Factory Owners' Association also sent letters addressed to the Finance Minister and organized human chains as well as press conference voicing protests with regard to tobacco price and tax proposals from PROGGA and Anti-Tobacco Media Alliance (ATMA). The organization also collected Demi-Official (DO) letters from at least 12 Member of Parliaments in support of its demands; The letters were later forwarded to the NBR with copies sent to the Finance Minister.

In the interest of protecting public health and increasing government revenue, the government should ignore the misleading campaigns and pressure exerted by tobacco companies, raise the prices of all tobacco products through effective taxation, and implement a public health-oriented tobacco tax policy. Notably, the proposals of the anti-tobacco activists, if implemented, the government would be able to generate approximately Tk 44,000 crore in additional revenue in the 2026–27 fiscal year, while an estimated 500,000 adults and more than 372,000 young people would be prevented from initiating smoking.