Finance Minister Abul Mal Abdul Muhith yesterday said VAT on tuition fees of private universities would not be lifted.
Expressing dissatisfaction over the movement of private university students for reducing value added tax (VAT) on their tuition fee, the minister said: “It cannot be accepted that they they cannot give 7.5% VAT while they are able to pay Tk30,000-50,000 as tuition fee.” Muhith also said he had no support with the movement.
The minister was talking to reporters after distributing foods at a Government Children Home at Bagbari in Sylhet city marking the 40th death anniversary of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
Students of private universities throughout the country recently arranged various demonstrations demanding the withdrawal of 7.5% vat on their tuition fee, foxed by the government in the current fiscal.
President of Sylhet unit Awami League Badaruddin Ahmed Kamran, General Secretary of Awami League district unit president Shafiqur Rahman Chowdhury, city unit president Asad Uddin, Chief Executive Officer of Sylhet City Corporation Enamul Habib and acting chief engineer Nur Azizur Rahman accompanied the minister.
While addressing a meeting organised by Sylhet Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the minister said wealthy people of Sylhet should invest in different development programmes for maximising economic potential in the region.
As Sylhet region has huge business potential, affluent people here should come forward to invest in economic sectors to supplement the efforts to make Bangladesh a middle-income country, he told a meeting on “Development of trade and commerce”.
Former chairman of Rupali Bank Dr Ahmed Al Kabir, sadar upazila chairman Ashfaq Ahmed and chamber leaders, among others, addressed the meeting.
At the meeting, Muhith said the country witnessed massive development as the present government was working for the well-being of the people.
He urged all to contribute to the development process through their active participation as the government cannot alone move the country ahead.
Regarding a demand for establishing a special economic zone at Sylhet district, the finance minister said, “Initially, we are setting up an economic zone in each division and it is getting good result. So, we are mulling to establish more special economic zones to accelerate economic progress in the country.”
