New export policy hits snag

The government is yet to formulate a new export policy for 2009-12 due mainly to lengthy bureaucratic procedures.
The effectiveness of previous export policy for 2006-09 expired in June and the government was scheduled to declare the new policy in July.
However the country's present export activities are running under the previous policy.
"Formulating the export policy is a long and complex procedure that Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) works out at first in consultation with private and export sectors. Then a draft proposal goes to the commerce ministry where different committees and sub-committees review it prior to placing it before the cabinet," said an EPB official.
The new export policy is at the final stage and will soon be placed before the cabinet meeting, said the official seeking anonymity.
About the importance of export policy, another EPB official said: "Export policy is the government's vision and a commitment to the export sector."
The government provides policy supports, cash incentive and other facilities to exporters in line with the export policy.
As the export sector of the country is now guided by the previous export policy, new requirements and necessities to boost exports are not coming to the fore, EPB officials said.
Earlier, the EPB had forwarded a draft proposal of the new export policy to the commerce ministry, encompassing 156 recommendations from business houses, chambers, trade bodies and different government offices.
The EPB proposed that the government offer cash incentive to some items, including plastic products, decorative items, environment-friendly herbal products, buttons made from coconut crust, coir products, toys and products made from bamboo and cane.
The recommendations also included formation of a number of industrial parks across the country, shifting outdated industrial units outside the metropolitan cities, developing a six-lane Dhaka-Chittagong express highway and delivering cash incentives within 30 days of export.
The EPB official said although the government has been preparing export policies for a long time, absence of proper monitoring is leaving the policy recommendations largely unimplemented.
"Presently there are no less than three committees including one headed by the prime minister to look after the export sector apart from different sector-wise taskforces. Nonetheless, the sector lacks proper monitoring," said the EPB official, stressing proper implementation of export policy.
Although the new export policy is yet to be formulated, the government has recently announced a list of 15 exportable items to give cash incentives for fiscal 2009-10.
Vegetables and fruits, leather goods, home-textile, frozen foods, bone dust, jute goods, bicycle, light-engineering products, day-old chicks, potato, Halal meat, liquid glucose, products made of hogla (a kind of flora), straw, and sugarcane bark will be entitled to the cash incentive.
This year PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottle flakes and finished leather were newly introduced to get such cash incentive.
"Proper planning and setting a target are very crucial for any sector as these help find out the obstacles to export," said Kazi Belayet Hossain, former president of Bangladesh Frozen Foods Exporters' Association.
Despite a global financial crisis, the government has set a $17.59 billion export target this fiscal year, with a 13 percent growth rate compared to the previous year.
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