Duty waiver in FY ’23 up 17.64pc to Tk 610.32b

Businesses got total duty exemption of over Tk 610.32 billion in the last fiscal year (FY), 2022-23, on the ground of reducing prices of products and goods in the domestic market, according to the National Board of Revenue's (NBR) latest data, reports UNB.
The NBR offered the import duty exemption through issuing notifications and statutory regulatory orders (SROs).
The duty exemption increased by Tk 91.52 billion or 17.64 per cent in FY 23, as the NBR exempted Tk 518.80 billion duty in FY 22.
But, leaders of consumer rights organisations opined that the increase in exemption to control inflation and protect local businesses had no major positive impact on the market.
Vice President of Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB) S M Nazer Hossain said despite getting duty exemption, the traders did not decrease prices of consumer products in local market.
He termed it as a failure of the government's market monitoring system to curtail business syndication of different essential commodities.
In FY 23, exemption of duty worth Tk 96.56 billion was given for import of capital equipment. After that, traders got Tk 55.84 billion discount for defence stores, edible oil importers got Tk 38.56 billion, raw material importers Tk 19.74 billion, and mobile manufacturers Tk 22.41 billion.