Staff Reporter :
Bangladesh is still lagging far behind the top-performing countries in the Tobacconomics Cigarette Tax Scorecard.
In 2021, Bangladesh has bagged a score of 2.63 on a scale of 5. The latest report shows ample opportunity for Bangladesh to improve its performance by increasing the prices of cigarettes, increasing the tax share of price, and improving the existing tobacco tax structure. The Cigarette Tax Scorecard, an initiative of the Tobacconomics program of the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC), assesses the performance of cigarette tax policies in 160 countries.
This is the 2nd report of its kind. The findings of the Bangladesh part of this year’s report were unveiled on Wednesday in a virtual event, organized by research and anti-tobacco advocacy organization PROGGA (Knowledge for Progress) with support from Campaign for Tobacco-free Kids (CTFK).
While the latest scorecard shows Bangladesh performing better in 2020 (score 2.63) than it did in 2018 (score 2.38), the country has seen virtually no progress in cigarette prices and tax structure reform. Bangladesh has scored only 1 (one) in both of these two cases. The flawed multi-tiered ad valorem tax structure and low base prices of cigarettes have prevented the country from emerging as a top-performing country on the scorecard.
As the Chief Guest of the event, eminent economist and convener of the National Anti-Tobacco Platform, Dr. Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad said, “The study findings can help our policymakers to adopt effective tobacco tax policies.”
He said, “The prices of cigarettes and other tobacco products should be hiked to bring these products beyond the purchasing power of the people.”
Dr. Nigar Nargis, Senior Scientific Director, Tobacco Control Research of the American Cancer Society and a member of the Tobacconomics team, presented the findings.
The event, hosted by Md. Hasan Shahriar, Project Head of Tobacco Control, PROGGA. Md. Mostafizur Rahman, Bangladesh Lead Policy Advisor, CTFK presided over the event.
The panel of discussants had Md. Shafiqul Islam, Head of Programs, Bangladesh, Policy Advocacy and Communication, Vandana Shah, Regional Director, South Asia programs, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids (CTFK), Vital Strategies; Syed Mahbubul Alam, Technical Advisor, The Union; and ABM Zubair, Executive Director, PROGGA. The event was also attended by representatives from different media and anti-tobacco organizations.
