Portion of BB reserve may be used for Padma Bridge : Muhith

The government may use a portion of its central bank reserve to construct the Padma Bridge, Finance Minister AMA Muhith said Sunday.
"A portion of the foreign currency reserve of Bangladesh Bank (BB) may be required when the work order for construction of the main part of Padma Bridge will be issued. During that time the central bank will not be able to help businessmen," the finance minister said when representatives of Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA) met him at his secretariat office.
The minister assured the BTMA leaders of financial assistance from the banking sector, but said the central bank would maintain its strong reserve for the Padma Bridge.
The BTMA leaders, led by its president Jahangir Alamin, sought the central bank's cooperation in importing capital machinery for their factories.
The finance minister admitted the government's inability to make a smooth supply of natural gas to textile mills located in the Chittagong zone, saying it would take some more days.
The BTMA leaders demanded of the government to immediately remove the complexities created over releasing funds of five per cent cash subsidy for the spinning mills and called upon it to do away with advance income tax (AIT) on back-to-back letters-of-credit (LCs).
The government announced a 5 per cent cash subsidy on September,
2001, for those spinning mills which had bought cotton at higher rates. But the mill owners were not getting the cash subsidy as the bank officials demanded some papers, which the spinning mill owners could not be able to supply.
On lifting of AIT on local LCs, the BTMA leaders said the advance income tax has left a negative impact on the overall export of textile goods of the country.