Trade bodies, NGOs express mixed reactions
Sunday, 10 June 2007
FE Report
Trade bodies and non-government organisations (NGOs) Saturday separately expressed mixed reaction over the proposed budget for fiscal 2007-08 with a call for lifting import duty on capital machinery.
"Imposition of duty on import of capital machinery for textile and other related industry will create a negative impact on further growth of the sector, which plays a vital role as backward linkage for RMG," Md Fazlul Hoque, president of Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA), said in a press release.
He hailed Finance Adviser AB Mirza Md Azizul Islam for the proposed allocation of Tk11 billion as export incentive in the next fiscal and extension of the duration of bonded warehouse facility to two years.
The BKMEA president, however, urged the government not to impose any import duty on capital machinery considering the interest of industrialisation of the country.
The President of Bangladesh Sewing Thread Manufacturers and Exporters Association, Abul Kashem Haider, also urged the government to keep machinery and raw materials imported for backward and forward linkage industry free from import duty otherwise it will be difficult to compete with other countries.
Abul Kashem Haider, also a former FBCCI vice president, said imposition of VAT at source at a rate of 4.5 per cent on tuition fee might create a hurdle for students pursuing higher study.
Stressing the need for increasing allocation for education sector, he urged to include the schools, colleges and madrassas, which were not enlisted for monthly pay order (MPOs) entitlement for the last five years.
He also stressed the need for long-term plan to develop efficient and honest human resources in the country.
Haider, however, hailed the finance adviser's effort for proposing a balanced budged.
Unnayan Onneshan, a centre for research and action on development, said the revenue targeted for next fiscal is ambitious but expressed the hope that the government is likely to be quite closer to the target if its drive on corruption and reform process in revenue department remained continued.
The organisation, in a press release evaluating the proposed budget, said the budget for upcoming fiscal has been set with a huge deficit, which is 5.6 per cent of total GDP.
Most of the deficit would be financed through domestic and external borrowing that would increase the government's liability in future to repay the principal and interest, the press release added.
Cost of doing business especially for exporters, it said, will increase, as the finance adviser has proposed to enhance tax deductible at source at the rate of 7.5 per cent instead of 5.0 per cent on commission income of stevedoring, C&F, non-resident courier service, marketing insurance and general insurance.
However, INCIDIN Bangladesh, a local NGO, urged the government for allocation to establish refugee centres for street children.
In a written statement, Ratan Sarker, executive director of INCIDIN Bangladesh, said about two million children, detached from family for various reasons, pass their nights in the city streets and urged for specific allocation in next fiscal budget for their welfare.
Trade bodies and non-government organisations (NGOs) Saturday separately expressed mixed reaction over the proposed budget for fiscal 2007-08 with a call for lifting import duty on capital machinery.
"Imposition of duty on import of capital machinery for textile and other related industry will create a negative impact on further growth of the sector, which plays a vital role as backward linkage for RMG," Md Fazlul Hoque, president of Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA), said in a press release.
He hailed Finance Adviser AB Mirza Md Azizul Islam for the proposed allocation of Tk11 billion as export incentive in the next fiscal and extension of the duration of bonded warehouse facility to two years.
The BKMEA president, however, urged the government not to impose any import duty on capital machinery considering the interest of industrialisation of the country.
The President of Bangladesh Sewing Thread Manufacturers and Exporters Association, Abul Kashem Haider, also urged the government to keep machinery and raw materials imported for backward and forward linkage industry free from import duty otherwise it will be difficult to compete with other countries.
Abul Kashem Haider, also a former FBCCI vice president, said imposition of VAT at source at a rate of 4.5 per cent on tuition fee might create a hurdle for students pursuing higher study.
Stressing the need for increasing allocation for education sector, he urged to include the schools, colleges and madrassas, which were not enlisted for monthly pay order (MPOs) entitlement for the last five years.
He also stressed the need for long-term plan to develop efficient and honest human resources in the country.
Haider, however, hailed the finance adviser's effort for proposing a balanced budged.
Unnayan Onneshan, a centre for research and action on development, said the revenue targeted for next fiscal is ambitious but expressed the hope that the government is likely to be quite closer to the target if its drive on corruption and reform process in revenue department remained continued.
The organisation, in a press release evaluating the proposed budget, said the budget for upcoming fiscal has been set with a huge deficit, which is 5.6 per cent of total GDP.
Most of the deficit would be financed through domestic and external borrowing that would increase the government's liability in future to repay the principal and interest, the press release added.
Cost of doing business especially for exporters, it said, will increase, as the finance adviser has proposed to enhance tax deductible at source at the rate of 7.5 per cent instead of 5.0 per cent on commission income of stevedoring, C&F, non-resident courier service, marketing insurance and general insurance.
However, INCIDIN Bangladesh, a local NGO, urged the government for allocation to establish refugee centres for street children.
In a written statement, Ratan Sarker, executive director of INCIDIN Bangladesh, said about two million children, detached from family for various reasons, pass their nights in the city streets and urged for specific allocation in next fiscal budget for their welfare.