Dhaka, Feb. 21 -- The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has reduced value-added tax (VAT) on biscuits and cakes by half, following the demands from processed food manufacturers, reducing it from 15 percent to 7.5 percent, according to an order issued on Thursday.

On 9 January, the interim government had tripled VAT on processed food, including biscuits and cakes, raising it from 5 percent to 1 percent.

Despite the new statutory regulatory order (SRO), consumers will still pay 2.5 percent more in VAT compared to what they paid before the January hike.

A senior NBR official said that under the 5 percent VAT rate in the fiscal year 2023-24, the NBR collected approximately Tk300 crore from biscuits and cakes.

Based on calculations, the hike...