The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has halved the regulatory duty on the import of refined and raw sugar, aiming to stabilise the sugar price in the local market.

The revenue board reduced the existing regulatory duty on raw and refined sugar from 30 percent to 15 percent.

According to the NBR, such an initiative would be helpful to keep the market price of sugar bearable and stable through tax concessions after analysing the overall situation, said an NBR statement.

The revenue board said that due to global war and political unrest, the massive devaluation of the Bangladeshi currency, the recent student-les mass uprising and the flood situation have increased the prices of some daily essentials, including baby food.

There is also a risk of going beyond the prices of those items beyond the purchasing capacity of the common people.

The reduction in regulatory duty by 15 percent has reduced the customs duty on raw sugar to Taka 11.18 per kg and the customs duty on refined sugar to Taka 14.26 per kg at the import level.

The NBR believes that the price per kg of sugar will come down at least by the same amount with the reduction in duty.

Moreover, it said, it is expected that the reduction in customs duty will discourage smuggling of sugar through illegal channels and increase the import through legal channels, thus boosting the collection of customs duty.