Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal today proposed imposing 15 per cent customs duty on cashew nuts and 25 per cent on both fresh and dried dates.

At present, importers have to pay a 5 per cent customs duty on the import of cashew nuts and zero duty on dates.

Bangladesh annually imports around 8 lakh tonnes of cashew nuts and 60,000 tonnes of dates, a popular iftar item, according to businesspeople.

According to officials of the Bangladesh Trade and Tariff Commission, about 50,000 tonnes of dates and 5,000 tonnes of cashew nuts are imported into the country every year.