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Dr Fahmida Khatun expressed her disappointment over the decision to increase the Value Added Tax (VAT) rate and impose additional supplementary duties on more than 100 products by the interim government, just six months after it assumed power following the fall of the Awami League regime, which crumbled like ninepins in the face of a mass uprising in August last year. Amid criticisms, the increased VAT rate was withdrawn from some of the products. Finance Adviser Salehduddin Ahmed expected that there would be no major impact on overall inflation, but the CPD Executive Director disagreed. ‘These decisions are bound to hurt the majority of consumers,’ she said. For her, inflation represents a major challenge for the interim government, especially in light of the huge expectations from the public to rise to the occasion after years of long repression and a lack of freedom of speech under the Awami League government led by ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina. ‘People want comfort,’ she said.