BCI lauds budget but is critical of growth target

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FE Report
Bangladesh Chamber of Industries (BCI) Tuesday lauded the budget as industry-friendly but said without major policy and governance shake-up achieving a record 6.7 per cent economic growth and implementation of development budget would be difficult.
In a budget reaction, the chamber said the country has been witnessing a continuous slide in the gross development product (GDP) growth in the last three years, and there are plenty of reasons to be feeling "pessimism" about the projected growth given the current nagging energy crisis and existing rickety infrastructure.
"The government has to be very attentive to achieve the projected GDP growth," said Shahedul Islam Helal, president of BCI, at a press conference at his office in the city.
BCI directors A K Azad, Zahangir Alam, Zia Haider and Kalam Bhuiyan were, among others, present on the occasion.
Mr Helal said the proposed budget for the 2010-2011 fiscal year is an industry-friendly one as the finance minister has addressed all the industries.
He especially pointed out two major areas - the withdrawal of turnover VAT from PVC pipe industry and rise in taxes at source for garment sector to 1 per cent from 0.25 per cent - where the interest of the sector was retained.
"The PVC pipe industry is a small industry. The proposal to bring them under the purview of VAT regime by withdrawing turnover tax will harm the small enterprises," Mr Helal said.
He said the budget proposal to increase duty on primary raw material to 3 per cent from 1 per cent needs to be reviewed.
BCI adviser Manzur Ahmed said to expedite investment, supply-side deficiencies caused by power outage and inadequate infrastructure must be redressed.