Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) said the proposed budget would help increase GDP growth as it has offered more incentives for the expansion of small and medium enterprises and accelerate industrialisation.
The DCCI in a statement yesterday also hailed the budget for extending the tax holiday facility for the under-developed areas from 7 years to 10 years.
Income tax rate for the non-publicly traded companies has been reduced to 35% from 37.5%, which DCCI sees is a positive effort and it urged reducing all other corporate taxes, said the chamber.
DCCI also welcomed government’s commitment of developing infrastructure like construction of Padma Bridge, setting up of a tunnel under Karnafuli River in Chittagong, elevating important highways into four-lanes, establishment of deep sea port and LNG terminal.
DCCI viewed that the commitments would encourage the private sector.
It recommended the government to widen the tax net to increase revenue collection up to 17% of GDP by the next five years.
Budget to help improve export competitiveness: BEA
Exporters Association of Bangladesh (EAB) has appreciated the proposed budget for the next fiscal year which they think is investment-friendly and would help improve the competitiveness of export-oriented industry, especially the country’s apparel industry.
Steps taken in the proposed budget to boost the country’s economy as well as export business, trade and commerce, EAB said in a separate statement.
In his budget speech, Muhith proposed duty-free import of prefabricated building materials to facilitate factory relocation and fire-safety equipment for the RMG sector as well as to improve fire safety standards. It also hailed the government for reducing source tax on export of apparel items to 0.30%.
They, however, demanded fixing the source tax at the same rate for all other export sectors, introducing uniform dollar exchange rate for exporters, establishment of deep sea port and an allocation of Tk500 crore for enhancement of workers’ productivity.
The EAB urged the government to give importance on the implementation of infrastructure projects to expedite exports else it would cast negative impact on the export sector.