Dhaka, March 25 -- 26 fiscal year, journalists on Tuesday demanded the unification of the lower and middle tiers of cigarettes, setting the minimum retail price at TK9 per stick.

They emphasized that increasing cigarette prices would help reduce smoking tendencies among young people, preventing approximately 1.8 million adolescents and youths from becoming new smokers.

Additionally, more than 2.4 million adults would be encouraged to quit smoking. In the long run, this initiative could prevent nearly 1.7 million premature deaths. Simultaneously, the government could increase revenue from cigarettes to 69,352 crore Taka, a 40% rise from the current earnings.

At present, the supplementary duty on cigarettes is set at 67%, which includes ...