Rationale for a hike in tax rates for RMG sector

Tax resource mobilisation in Bangladesh has been unsatisfactory and much lower than that of other countries at a similar stage of economic and social development. With the limited sources of tax revenue (mainly value added tax or VAT domestic and...

Human development: Are we spending enough?

Human capital is broadly defined as the education, skills, training, health and other related  factors of the population that determine their overall productivity and capacity to seize opportunities created by economic progress. Formation of human capital is paramount for sustaining...

Establishing coordination between Tax, VAT, Customs and Excise

VALUE ADDED TAX RATES AROUND THE GLOBE:  Information on update of VAT rates in 160 countries have been collected and documented in a tabular form. It shows that in the seven ASEAN countries the average rate of VAT is 9.43%...

Changing rice varieties

It is by now well-documented that the farmers in Bangladesh (and also in India) have replaced the traditional varieties of rice (TVs) with modern ones (MVs). This was triggered mainly by higher yield but other considerations have also played a...

Costs and benefits of protection

Mobilisation of revenue without distorting business incentives continues to be a major challenge for the Government. Though a strategic shift from import to domestic-based revenue sources is taking place (Table 1), the Government's continued heavy reliance on import-based taxes for...

Imported to rot!

The Chittagong Customs House could sell only 60 cars at auction in the last five years, leaving around 887 cars to get damaged in the country's prime sea port, officials said. The customs officials identified scores of writs filed by...

The issue of popular acceptance of a tax system

ADMINISTRATIVE ISSUES:  A broad-based VAT would cost less to administer than the current income tax. For example, in the United Kingdom, administrative costs of the VAT were less than half of that of the income tax, measured as a share...

Vanishing breed of domestic maids

Euphemistically called domestic helps, they seldom make any news unless something tragic happens to them. Also known as house maids, they are fast becoming short in supply. If one of the obvious reasons is employment opportunities for an increasing number...

Getting rid of poverty, statistically

The country will have no poor people only after three years, according to Finance Minister AMA Muhith. He told a group of journalists last Saturday that the rate of poverty in 2019 will come down to 11 per cent. That...

Budget implementation challenges

The inability to implement the budgeted ADP (Annual Development Programme)  is partly due to resource constraint but also a reflection of implementation constraints in line ministries.  Similarly, the growing foreign aid pipeline is partly due to harmonisation issues relating to...

Need for upscaling performance by academics

As this was the first year of the BRAC University Faculty and Staff Award System, I recognise that we would need to strengthen the process of selection for it, to depend not only on the statements of candidates themselves and...

Market monitoring teams to come under review

The government has decided to review the performance and activities of over a dozen teams, deployed to monitor the prices of essentials, officials said.   The ministry of commerce (MoC) will hold a meeting today (Sunday) at the secretariat to review...

Crippling problem for poor

Majority of the seats at the lone state-run cancer hospital are pay beds that cause financial hardship to the patients as they have to bear costs of prolonged treatment for survival from the deadly disease, sources said. The National Institute...

Process nears end to bring back jailed expats from Dubai

The government has completed procedures for bringing back several hundred Bangladeshi workers who have been serving different terms of imprisonment in Dubai prisons for committing crimes in that country. Sources said the ministry of home affairs (MoHA) will start the...

Tax dispute threatens spectrum auction

Cellphone operators are reluctant to pay heed to the finance ministry's proposal of paying the principal amount of the SIM replacement tax, which insiders say could throw $630 million spectrum auction into uncertainty. The ministry had proposed that the defaulting...

BRT line from Gazipur to Keraniganj in limbo

A plan to introduce a dedicated lane for plying buses from Gazipur to Keraniganj is in limbo due to failure to coordinate Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) line with ongoing flyover projects, sources said. The Dhaka Transport Coordination Board (DTCB) sat...

Removing hindrances to intra-regional trade

PORT INFRASTRUCTURE AND EFFICIENCY: Air and maritime ports in South Asia are generally considered less competitive than those in East Asia. Infrastructure and efficiency in ports of South Asia are lower than those of East Asia. For example, it takes...

Multiple rates affect efficiency, increase complexity

Taxes have been with us for as long as civilisation, so the VAT, at 61 years, is relatively young. Although appealing in terms of rising revenues, VAT has reached a turning point as countries reflect on the need to raise...

Seventh Plan fiscal policy: Setting the tone

The Sixth Five Year Plan is coming to a close on June 30, 2015. The Sixth Plan is the first medium-term government strategy for implementing Vision 2021 and the Perspective Plan 2010-2021. The implementation of the Sixth Plan has important...

BD to seek Chinese investment under buy-back arrangement

Bangladesh will seek Chinese investment under buy-back arrangement, especially in manufacturing sector aiming to reduce growing trade deficit as Chinese vice premier Liu Yandong arrives in Dhaka on May 24, officials said. "Bangladesh's trade deficit with China is progressively increasing....

NCC Bank to bring qualitative changes in services

National Credit and Commerce (NCC) Bank Ltd has moved to bring qualitative changes in all stages of its service aiming to become one of the most adorable commercial banks in the country, its chief executive said. "We are seriously working...

Stocks extend gaining streak amid optimism

Stocks extended their gaining streak for the second straight week that ended Thursday with significant improvement in turnover as investors were on buying spree amid optimism. "The buoyancy was spurred mainly by the government decision of interest rate cut on...

Khwajeh Shams ud-Din Muhammad Hafez Shirazi - the poet

Hafez was born in Shiraz, Iran. His parents were from Kazerun, Fars Province. Despite his profound effect on Persian life and culture and his enduring popularity and influence, few details of his life are known. Accounts of his early life...

The tale of chain stores

There has been an explosive growth of food chains in recent times. Are the urban people following their counterparts in the West where few families cook their meals at home? Nucleus families with both partners doing jobs requiring time and...

Human resource development in agriculture

There is increasing evidence and recognition that what matters for development, more than natural resources and man-made physical capital, is the capability of people to be effective and productive economic agents, in short, human capital. In the particular case of...

Encouraging private sector to play its due role

Despite efforts of the governments of South Asian countries towards regional economic integration in the last decade or so, at times on a bilateral basis, formal intra-regional trade has not risen above 5.0 per cent of the total trade. Experts...

Smokeless tobacco sales boom after cigarette price spike

Smokeless tobacco items are emerging as 'silent killer' due to hike in cigarette prices with smokeless tobacco industries remaining out of the purview of the country's formal economy. The majority of smokeless tobacco industries remain out of the government's tax...

Why we need area-based schooling system

The education system in Bangladesh has gone through endless experiments. Unfortunately, four decades after the independence of the country even our primary education system is not following any coordinated schooling model. Diverse schooling systems - Bangla and English mediums, and...

How happy is Bhutan really?

The Gross National Happiness (GNH) measures the feature of a country in a more universal way and considers that the advantageous expansion of society takes place when factual and transcendental developments happen side by side. Bhutan claims to have fixed...

Where mayors can play a decisive role

With the official endorsement of the city corporation elections by the country's Election Commission (EC), the three mayors and councillors are now all set to take up their responsibilities. Leaving behind the avoidable controversy surrounding the election, the elected office-bearers...