Finance Minister AMA Muhith on Saturday said the talks of cutting down GSP facility and other facilities is ‘utterly illogical, unjust and unfair’ and the private sector should also tell the same to the US authorities and businesses, reports UNB.
“It’s very unfair… discrimination against Bangladesh is utterly illogical, unjust and unfair. You can use as many adjectives as you want against this [threat],” he said.
The Finance Minister made the remarks during a pre-budget meeting with the leaders of International Business Forum of Bangladesh (IBFB) at the secretariat.
Apparently indicating the US authorities, Muhith said they charge from Bangladesh garments something like 24 percent in duty as against 5 percent they charge from garment and fabrics of France. “What kind of justice is this?”
Explaining, he said: “Here their argument is that they’re not giving similar facility to Bangladesh because if it happens other LDCs will die. It’s a wrong argument.”
Indicating the IBFB leaders who will visit the USA shortly, the Finance Minister said they must tell this to the US authorities. “For God’s sake, tell them - at higher level and business level. I always tell this. But ours has less importance.”
Going back to the history of Bangladesh’s readymade garment (RMG) industry, he said it started on a small scale and in 30 years, it is now the second largest (RMG) exporting country in the world.
“Look at Bangladesh…it doesn’t produce cottons. It imports cotton and yarns. It used to import major portion of fabrics. Now it’s a fairly integrated industry.”
The Finance Minister also said the industry has developed into an integrated industry over the last 30 years and it is maintaining very good standards and very good prices. “Therefore, it’s the interest of the world to keep this industry alive.”
Regarding the frequency of accidents in the RMG industry he asked how many accidents took place before the last two accidents. “You check the statistics. It’s fantastically good,” he said.
Muhith claimed that the last accident before the latest two major accidents had happened sometime in 90s. “Of course, the latest accidents are our failure.”
Explaining what steps the government has taken, he said the government, for the first time, formed a cabinet committee to survey all the factories to find out the defects few days before the Savar building collapse.
“Everything concerns the welfare of the workers. The Cabinet committee has been asked to complete the task within three months including identification of errors and corrective measures,” Muhith said.
Earlier, the IBFB leaders individually shared the budget proposals with the Finance Minister.
The proposals include rationalising bank interest rate which they consider very high and hinder industrialisation in the country as well as generation of more revenues through effective utilisation of VAT.
They also proposed to discourage import of goods and services that are already available locally and thus protect the local industries.
Muhith listened to the proposals and appreciated some of the proposals made by the IBFB leaders.
Talking on the VAT issue, he said it is a wonderful tax and it is an instrument which enforces honesty in businesses.
Founder President of IBFB Mahmudul Islam Chowdhury, IBFB President Hafizur Rahman, IBFB Chittagong Chapter chairperson M Sakhawat Hossain, Executive Director M Abdus Salam and Director Lutfunnisa Saudia Khan were, among others, present.
