Invoice-based incentive for shrimp exporters
Thursday, 19 May 2011
Monira Munni
The government has extended moratorium on term loan repayment but scrapped weight-based cash incentive system to help make the country one of top global exporters of shrimp and white fish, officials said. The decision comes after the government formed a committee headed by economic advisor Dr Mashiur Rahman to help shrimp exporters ride out the storm of global recession. The committee held meeting with all stakeholders on April 19 when the Economic Advisor recommended a few initiatives including scrapping weight-based cash incentive system that encouraged dumping and extending the moratorium on term loan repayment to June 2012. Mr Rahman in a letter to Finance Minister this month said, "Prime Minister has approved the recommendations and gave directives to take necessary actions to implement the recommendations." The letter said cash support on invoice value might start from the next fiscal and fixed price could be raised 25 to 35 per cent for providing incentive as an interim adjustment for the export of April to June of current fiscal. Officials said under the new decision' to be effective from July 1, the exporters would no longer get cash incentive based on the quantity of frozen fish they export every year. An exporter used to get $3.79 for per pound of shrimp and $ 1.10 for per pound of white and other fish. But now the exporters will get the cash support on the actual rate of invoice value from the next financial year. Exporters are upbeat that the latest government sops would raise the country's annual frozen fish export to one billion dollars a year from $445.18 million in the 2009-10 financial year. "The new invoice-based cash incentive would encourage local exporters to seek maximum value of their products. It will cut low-value export and dumping," Kazi Shahnewaz, president of Bangladesh Frozen Food Exporters Association (BFFEA), told the FE. "The decision will also help us overcome the recent liquidity crisis," the BFFEA president said.
The government has extended moratorium on term loan repayment but scrapped weight-based cash incentive system to help make the country one of top global exporters of shrimp and white fish, officials said. The decision comes after the government formed a committee headed by economic advisor Dr Mashiur Rahman to help shrimp exporters ride out the storm of global recession. The committee held meeting with all stakeholders on April 19 when the Economic Advisor recommended a few initiatives including scrapping weight-based cash incentive system that encouraged dumping and extending the moratorium on term loan repayment to June 2012. Mr Rahman in a letter to Finance Minister this month said, "Prime Minister has approved the recommendations and gave directives to take necessary actions to implement the recommendations." The letter said cash support on invoice value might start from the next fiscal and fixed price could be raised 25 to 35 per cent for providing incentive as an interim adjustment for the export of April to June of current fiscal. Officials said under the new decision' to be effective from July 1, the exporters would no longer get cash incentive based on the quantity of frozen fish they export every year. An exporter used to get $3.79 for per pound of shrimp and $ 1.10 for per pound of white and other fish. But now the exporters will get the cash support on the actual rate of invoice value from the next financial year. Exporters are upbeat that the latest government sops would raise the country's annual frozen fish export to one billion dollars a year from $445.18 million in the 2009-10 financial year. "The new invoice-based cash incentive would encourage local exporters to seek maximum value of their products. It will cut low-value export and dumping," Kazi Shahnewaz, president of Bangladesh Frozen Food Exporters Association (BFFEA), told the FE. "The decision will also help us overcome the recent liquidity crisis," the BFFEA president said.