Dhaka: In the budget for the financial year 2026-27, it has been proposed to not impose duties on the import of 17 new raw materials to boost the capacity of the domestic pharmaceutical industry and the international market.
Finance Minister Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury announced the budget for the financial year 2026-27 in the parliament on Thursday (June 11).
“In order to sustain the export growth of Bangladeshi medicines in the international market, I am proposing to increase the import duty to zero percent by including 17 more basic raw materials in the existing concessional facility,” he said.
At the same time, it has been proposed to completely withdraw duty on the import of 51 more raw materials to increase the production of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs). The main objective of the initiative is to reduce import dependency by strengthening the production capacity of raw materials locally.
In the proposed budget for the financial year 2026-27, the allocation for the health sector has been kept above 1 per cent of GDP for the first time. The next allocation has been set aside at Tk 69,409 crore. That’s almost double the current fiscal year. The allocation for the current financial year is Tk 35,477 crore.
