Finance Adviser Salehuddin Ahmed has said the rationale behind increasing VAT on a broad swathe of goods will be made public in a few days, reiterating that the move will not have much impact on the prices of daily commodities. However, he avoided questions regarding whether the decision would be reconsidered after a meeting related to government procurement on Tuesday. The initiative to raise VAT was met with criticism from even Debapriya Bhattacharya, the chief of the economic white paper committee, and the National Citizens' Committee. The Ministry of Agriculture used a budget provided by the Ministry of Finance to arrange the OMS,” Salehuddin said. But the prices of rice have dropped a bit.”Salehuddin said several proposals to buy fertiliser were approved at the meeting.
