Central bank seeks Tk 26.55b to pay subsidy for exporters
FE Report | Monday, 15 October 2018
Some Tk 26.55 billion is immediately needed to meet the outstanding cash incentive/subsidy demand from local exporters for the second quarter (Q2) of this fiscal year (FY), 2018-19, officials said.
Of the amount, some Tk 1.45 billion will be required for the jute sector, while Tk 25.10 billion for other sectors, they added.
The Bangladesh Bank (BB) has sought the fund from the government to meet the cash incentive/subsidy demand made by the exporters, a central banker said.
The central bank has recently sent a letter to the Ministry of Finance (MoF), seeking release of the second tranche of the exporters' cash incentive/subsidy for the current FY, they added.
A high official of the MoF said last week: "We have received a request from the central bank to release the second tranche of cash incentive/subsidy. We are now working on the matter. But it is not possible to say right now how much amount will be released."
The MoF has already released the first tranche of Tk 11.25 billion as cash incentive/subsidy in current FY in favour of the BB. Of the amount, some Tk 1.25 billion was given to the exporters of jute sector, while Tk 10 billion was given to the exporters of other sectors for the first quarter, the BB data showed.
The fund, released by the government, was provided to the banks as their outstanding cash incentive/subsidy.
The banks' unpaid cash incentive stood at over Tk 14.84 billion until September 2018. Of the amount, jute sector will get over Tk 220 million, while other sectors will get over Tk 14.62 billion, according to the official data.
A total of 35 export-oriented sectors are receiving cash incentives for the current fiscal. The government has earmarked some Tk 45 billion as cash incentive/subsidy to these sectors for FY 19. The amount was same in last FY also.
The government has set US$ 44 billion export target for the current FY, including $5.0 billion from service sector. The country's total export earning rose by 5.81 per cent to $36.66 billion in FY 18.