Bangladesh has reduced import duties on a wide range of products in its 2007/08 (July-June) budget, at a cost of more than 4.0 billion taka, officials said on Saturday. The 871.37 billion taka ($12.6 billion) national budget effective from July 1, focused on poverty reduction through boosting revenue, tame inflation and creating more jobs.
Finance adviser to the interim government Mirza Azizul Islam, defending the duty changes, told a news conference they would help local industry to grow and become competitive in international markets. The state-run National Board of Revenue reduced import duty on export-oriented pharmaceutical and textile machinery and computers and accessories to 5 percent from 10 percent proposed in the budget.
The tax authority also withdrew a 10 percent duty on pulp, a raw material of paper.
In the budget unveiled on June 7, the government set an additional revenue earnings of about 5.0 billion taka through readjustment of the duty structure.
"The government has reduced duties on many products after receiving suggestions from different business associations," Abdur Razzaque, a commissioner of the revenue board told Reuters.
Import duty on telecommunication equipment and capital machinery will now be 10 percent from 15 percent, duty on mobile and fixed telephone sets is reduced by 20 percent and a 20 percent supplementary duty on air conditioner also slashed.
Exports reached a record $10.53 billion in the last fiscal year, of which $7.9 billion came from garments. The new budget envisaged revenue receipts of 573 billion taka, or 10.8 percent of GDP.
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