Globalisation benefits BD most, says Muhith

Finance minister AMA Muhith said Thursday Bangladesh is the most beneficiary of globalisation as its economy has been expanding fast with the changes in tariff regimes.
Bangladesh, as a least developed country (LDC), has been enjoying duty and quota-free access to many advanced countries including member-states of the European Union (EU).
Bangladesh's trade with the rest of the world now stands at nearly 38 per cent as its export-import volume has soared to around US$66 billion.
"We're the most beneficiary of globalisation; we want to keep it up…,." the finance minister said while speaking as the chief guest at the monthly luncheon meeting of the Foreign Investors' Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), a group of 184 foreign investors and companies in Bangladesh.
The finance minister said Bangladesh's economy got momentum after democratisation since 1990s.
"We've been growing by 1.0 percentage point in each decade since democratisation," Mr Muhith said.
The finance minister said Bangladesh has been doing an excellent job in value addition of exportable products.
"We add at least 30 per cent value to 70 per cent of imported raw materials," the finance minister said.
He said he is optimistic about higher growth of exports, thanks to its excellence in value addition.
"Garment manufactures wanted to set much lower export target for 2021 but I advised them to fix it at US$50 billion," Mr Muhith said.
FICCI president Rupali Chowdhury conducted the short luncheon meeting with its executive director Jamil Osman unveiling a short biography of the finance minister at the programme.
Speaking at the programme, Ms Rupali Chowdhury said the budget for the fiscal year 2015-16 should address the key challenges the economy is currently facing and exploit the growth potential as much as possible.
She said the FICCI will extend wholehearted support to the development endeavours of the government.
She urged the finance minister for bringing some essential changes in the fiscal laws in the budget for 2015-16 for the benefit of the business community in general and the FICCI members in particular.
As per provision u/s 16CCC of ITO 1984, newly-established firms are also liable to pay minimum tax @0.30 per cent on the amount representing the company's gross receipts from all sources.
She said this section should be deleted as this is not in line with the spirit of income tax law.
She said: "Irrespective of generating income, charging of minimum tax on a company or firm is not fair. Moreover, this provision is in conflict with other provisions of tax law."
She said the existing corporate tax rates should be reduced to minimise gaps between marginal tax rate and effective tax rate.
"We recommend tax rates for non-publicly traded companies at 30.0 per cent, for publicly traded companies at 25.0 per cent and for mobile phone operators at 32.5 per cent."
She said a number of the FICCI member-companies have invested a substantial portion of their approved gratuity funds in 5-year Bangladesh Sanchayapatra as per the rules of the Income Tax Ordinance 1984.
She said recently the Directorate of National Savings had informed the investors that the investments were not made in proper manner and advised them to encash their existing investments without interest.
"I would request you to look into the matter and instruct the concerned authorities to pay interest on five-year Bangladesh Sanchayapatra invested by FICCI members out of approved gratuity funds that have already matured and allow the existing investments to continue until maturity."
Ms Chowdhury said the highest budgetary allocation should continue to be for human resources development, led by technological uplift with a view to realising the dream of Digital Bangladesh.
"This will lead to investment increase in labour-intensive but technologically developed manufacturing sectors, supported by better customs and port management and less regulatory framework."
She said: "By and large, we expect quantitative as well as qualitative changes in the development process to help the FICCI generate productive employment disseminate technological know-how and attain a decent standard of living for the people of Bangladesh."
She said the FICCI believes, to achieve and sustain Bangladesh's future growth, the country will need to attract and retain more FDI.
"This could be achieved only by providing the right kind of business environment and adequate incentives for the foreign investors operating their businesses here as well as the prospective investors who are eager to invest in various sectors of the economy."
The FICCI, which started its journey in 1963 as 'the Agrabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry' in Chittagong, assumed its present name and moved to Dhaka in 1987.
The members of FICCI are some of the biggest corporate houses of the country.
At present, the chamber comprises 184 members, operating in a wide spectrum of manufacturing, trading and service businesses and has been playing a catalytic role in economic development of Bangladesh.
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