Budget targets chocolate, lipstick

If you're planning to import cheap lipstick into Bangladesh anytime soon, think again. The country's interim government, in its latest budget, has quietly declared war on undervalued imports with a series of oddly specific tweaks to customs rules. Among the victims: chocolate bars, lipsticks, eye shadow, and -- wait for it -- inflatable toys.

The changes, buried in the budget document, read like a shopping list for a middle-class household. Minimum taxable values for imported chocolates have more than doubled -- from $4 to $10 per kilogramme. Lipstick? Now $40/kg, up from $20. And that cheap inflatable unicorn your kid's been begging for? Add 14 percent to the price tag, thanks to a new floor of $4 per unit (up from $3.50).

Is it about fighting under-invoicing -- a favourite pastime of importers everywhere? It could be a soft nudge against importers of luxury chocolates or toy laser lights.

The problem? Bangladesh's affluent urbanites accustomed to imported treats and toys won't stop buying. They'll just pay more. This won't kill demand but make birthdays slightly more expensive.

There's a bigger picture. These tweaks are part of a broader scramble to offset losses coming from duty cuts elsewhere. But instead of sweeping reforms, the government is tinkering at the edges -- raising duties on niche goods.

There's also a curious mismatch. Why target lipstick but not smartphones? Why inflatable toys but not, say, bovine meat? One theory: these are low-risk, high-visibility moves. No one riots over expensive mascara or Swiss chocolates.