The National Board of Revenue (NBR) is working to impose additional duty on 330 products which are not essential goods, said commerce secretary Tapan Kanti Gosh.

He said no essential goods were imported in the country spending foreign exchange, Bangladesh Trade and Tariff Commission and NBR are assessing how much duty can be increased to discourage imports.

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The commerce secretary told reporters around $1 billion can be saved by controlling those goods.

The government of Bangladesh had increased the duty on 135 products last May to discourage imports.

But even then the trade deficit has not reduced much. As a result, the Ministry of Commerce requested the Bangladesh Trade and Tariff Commission to verify that the duty can be increased on any other products, sources said.

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Following that request, the commission prepared a list of 330 products and sent it to the Ministry of Commerce.

Later the ministry sent it to the National Board of Revenue (NBR).

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Mainly luxuries and less important national products dominate the list.