Calling the National Board of Revenue (NBR) a threat to business, the country's apparel leaders on Thursday strongly criticised the revenue board and customs authorities for allegedly making the business difficult.
They alleged that the regulatory bodies and the bureaucracy were slowing down business in the country in the name of tax and vat laws.
The RMG leaders made the allegation at the inauguration of the three-day '7th BIGTEX- Bangladesh International Garment & Textile Industry Exposition, that kicked off at the International Convention City Bashundhara in Dhaka.
Engineer Mohammad Mozaffar Hossain MP, a renowned business leader, addressing the event as the chief guest said, "NBR has become a panic for us to do business."
Pointing to the NBR chairman, he added, "I cannot go further on him (NBR chairman) being a ruling party MP."
He admitted the crisis the country's business has been facing due to gas, electricity and reserve shortage.
He, however, attributed the crisis to the Covid-19 pandemic and world war situation that has pushed foreign reserve crisis and the government is trying to mitigate the crisis.
Mohammad Hatem, executive president of BKMEA, echoed the same on the role of NBR and customs.
"The problem is deepening day by day. The NBR and customs authorities have pushed the businesses in a hard-pressed situation. We are now forced back to the wall due to the troublemaking initiatives of NBR and customs," he alleged.
He also viewed that the newly-proposed wage for the RMG workers was not practical and they would have to suspend operation in factories amid such a pressure and sorry state of business.
The apparel sector is facing severe gas and electricity shortage, difficulties in getting bank loans while buyers are not making payments-all these have pushed the sector into dire straits, he said.
Hatem, however, believed that being the world's safest and with a bigger number of green factories, Bangladesh would be the next sourcing hub of the globe.
Meanwhile, businesses highlighted that Bangladesh needs to cut its dependency on cotton and increase the use of manmade fibre or synthetic to cope up with the competition in the global market.
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