Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) – The BBN has prepared the morning business round up compiling reports, published by different newspapers and news portals in Bangladesh.
Muhith promises payroll tax reforms
Finance Minister AMA Muhith Saturday promised to reform the system of collecting the payroll tax which now constitutes a meagre 2.0 per cent of the government’s annual income tax revenue earning. Mr. Muhith also hinted at rationalising the level of taxation on the telecom sector and lower segment of cigarettes. Speaking as chief guest at a PRI seminar on the next national budget in the city, he also underscored the need for hiking the rate of tax on export proceeds of the apparel units.
Bangladesh to slash yields on savings certificates Sunday
The government is going to revise downward the yield of its savings instruments on Sunday to ease up the bulging debt burden following a surge in the demand for the same from the savers. “Savings certificates interest rates are really very high. We have discussed and reviewed the situation and you will get the results Sunday,” Finance Minister AMA Muhith reportedly said while addressing a live televised budget discussion meeting at a city hotel on Friday night. Earlier on April 14 last, the Cash and Debt Management Committee (CDMC) decided at a meeting held at the Ministry of Finance (MoF) to review the interest rates on the investment tools.
Denim opens big export opportunity
Bangladesh is turning into a major source of denim products as international retailers attracted by cheaper prices place higher volumes of denim-based work orders. Bangladesh’s popularity as a denim destination comes on the back of rising denim costs in China, the largest garment supplier worldwide, which is deflecting its buyers towards cheaper options. The overwhelming response by international retailers to the first Bangladesh Denim Expo in November last year proves the strength of the country’s denim sub-sector, said Mostafiz Uddin, managing director of Denim Expert.
BPC reluctant to pay NBR Tk 600cr in dues
Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation has expressed its inability to pay off above Tk 600 crore owed to the revenue authorities as outstanding taxes and levies of its three subsidiary firms on grounds of fund crunch. The corporation sought the amount from the finance ministry to pay off the debt, after national board of revenue continued to pressure the BPC to pay the dues, a senior finance official said. Meghna petroleum owes Tk 225 crore, followed by Jamuna oil company ltd and Padma oil company ltd.
Bangladesh forex reserve falls to $23.22bn after ACU payment
Country made a routine payment of more than US$1.0 billion to the Asian Clearing Union (ACU) against imports during the March-April period of the current calendar year, officials said. After the payment, Bangladesh’s foreign exchange (forex) reserve came down to $23.22 billion on Thursday from $ 24.14 billion of the previous working day, according to the central bank statistics. “The central bank has already remitted the fund to the ACU headquarters in Tehran in line with the existing provisions of the union,” a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB), the country’s central bank, told the BBN in Dhaka.
Hotels with minimum 3-star grade to get duty waiver
The civil aviation and tourism ministry has issued guidelines on identification of the international standard luxury hotels for providing tax rebate in import of capital machinery and other equipments to encourage setting up new international chain and luxury hotels in the country. According to the Identification and Certification of Standard Hotels Guidelines published on April 27, only three-star and above graded under-construction hotels will get duty waiver on import.
Call for steps to boost investment
Businesspeople and economists have urged the government to take steps to spur stubbornly stagnant investment by fixing infrastructure deficits and cutting bank lending rates. Businesses and industries are not being able to do their business amid double digit interest rates, said Syed Manzur Elahi, a former president of the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Dhaka. “If we can bring the banks’ lending rates down to a single digit it would help immensely,” he said. Elahi said the cost of doing business is going up in Bangladesh compared to China. “Bangladesh can’t go far on the back of cheap labour. If we can give land, gas and electricity to investors, both local and foreign, there will be no dearth of investment.” He spoke at a pre-budget discussion jointly organised by private television channel NTV and the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) at Sonargaon Hotel in Dhaka on Friday.
Bangladesh Bank purchases $20m more from bank
The central bank of Bangladesh purchased US$20 million more from a commercial bank Thursday to help keep the inter-bank foreign exchange (forex) market stable, officials said, “We’ve bought the US currency directly from the banks at market rate to protect the interests of exporters and migrant workers by keeping the exchange rate of the Bangladesh Taka against the US dollar stable,” a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told BBN in Dhaka.