Will the Cost of Sanitary Napkins go down?

Recently, there has been an alarm online and offline where citizens and activists were criticising the government for increasing the tax on sanitary pads to 40%. However, there is no authentic source to confirm this information. 

On 3rd July, the National Board of Revenue of Bangladesh issued a press release that stated they have not increased any kind of tax on sanitary pads, in fact the VAT and SD on imported raw materials used to locally manufacture sanitary pads have been exempted in the budget for the fiscal year 2019-2020. They also stated that the government prioritises women’s social welfare, women’s empowerment and women’s health with utmost importance, and urged everyone not to get influenced by such misleading and unverified information that is being spread through various electronic and print media.

Exempting taxes from the imported materials to locally produce sanitary pads is indeed a big step to ensure the welfare of women’s health. Due to the high cost of sanitary pads, women and girls use old clothes and dirty rags to absorb their menstrual blood, leading to infections and other serious health consequences. With the taxes exempted, it is expected that the cost of menstrual hygiene products will reduce and can be affordable by women from all economic classes.