In its first budget since returning to power, Bangladesh’s government has abolished the 300-taka levy on mobile SIM cards, a consumer-friendly measure aimed at slashing one of the world’s highest telecoms tax burdens. Finance Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury told parliament that the sector’s effective tax rate hovers around 50 per cent, far above the roughly 25 per cent levied on information technology, and vowed to bring telecoms taxes down to more internationally competitive levels. Analysts in London note that this move aligns with a global push to treat mobile connectivity as a basic utility, and it is expected to reduce the upfront cost of SIM ownership for millions of Bangladeshis.

The budget also delivered a sharp tightening of financial surveillance. From now on, any individual opening a bank account must provide a Tax Identification Number (TIN), although students, recipients of no-frills 10-taka accounts, government benefits and pensions are exempt. With over 170 million accounts already in existence, the requirement will chiefly fall on new customers. Viewed from Washington, this is a classic attempt to drag more economic activity into the formal tax net — a perennial challenge in a country where revenue collection has long lagged — and is likely to trigger a rush for TIN registrations among the formerly unbanked.

To cushion the blow for low and middle-income earners, the tax-free income threshold was raised to 3.75 lakh taka, continuing a policy initiated by the previous interim administration. The fact that the BNP-led government has retained the increase rather than rolling it back signals a degree of continuity welcomed by Dhaka-based economists, who say it provides a modest but meaningful relief to salaried households already squeezed by inflation. Special carve-outs for certain groups, such as women and senior citizens, further expand the effective benefit.

While some goods will become cheaper thanks to duty reductions, cigarette prices are set to rise steeply: minimum retail prices per pack of 10 now range from 62 taka for the cheapest tier to 210 taka for ultra-premium brands. This asymmetric approach — cutting duties on selected essentials while sharply hiking sin taxes — reflects a government walking a fine line between stimulating consumption and shoring up revenues. As international lenders watch closely, the success of these measures will depend less on their design than on the government’s capacity to implement the TIN mandate and rationalise a tax system that has long been criticised as both onerous and unevenly enforced.