No dumping of rich country products allowed: NBR chief
The government will not anymore allow any developed country to dump their products into Bangladesh as local industries are going to get in the coming budget all they need to grow.
National Board of Revenue (NBR) Chairman Muhammad Abdul Mazid yesterday stated this as he gave businessmen an outlook of the philosophy and the focus of the next budget under a new government whose main motto is economic self-reliance.
The government's revenue chief observed that many developed countries have their policy to dump their old items into least-developed countries like Bangladesh.
“We will not allow such activities,” he said, pointing to the jamming of city-streets with honking gaggles of vehicles.
In this connection, he mentioned that old vehicles in Japan are available almost for free if any importer expresses interest in importing the cars.
The English alumnus of Dhaka University also mentioned that thousands of imported reconditioned vehicles now remained stranded in Chittagong Port, leaving no room for new arrivals.
“There is no place to keep new cars in the port area. But the import of reconditioned vehicles still goes on,” Mazid said in a pre-budget meeting with the stakeholders of chemicals, paint varnish, leather, cosmetics, toiletries and jewellery sectors in the NBR conference room.
“This time we will formulate the budget keeping in mind the world economy,” he further said, explaining the focus of the budget.
The NBR chief said that the government would put emphasis on the employment-generating industries.
“We want to kick out poverty from the country, and for that the employment-generating industries will be given priority in the next budget,” he told his business audience.
He said the entrepreneurs who will invest in business that will not generate considerable employment would not get government facilities.
“The attention in such case will be strict from our side.”
Disclosing that the new government continuously is trying to facilitate the local industries to be the substitute for the imported items, he said the government in the next budget would give further patronage to the local industries.
Narrating the philosophy of the next budget to attain a self-reliant economy and business-friendly environment, the NBR chairman said to increase the revenue collection the government would formulate an economically managed budget for the next year.
He mentioned that the NBR is preparing a list of the local industries to find out the scenario of the local industries of the country and determine which sector needs what facilitation.
Mazid informed that the government is willing to reduce the use and import of luxury items. “We don't want to spend (on luxuries) our foreign exchange earned through a hard way,” he said.
Responding to the plea of the representatives from chemical, paint varnish, leather, cosmetic, toiletry and jewellery sectors, the NBR chairman said there is no way to continue the pre-shipment inspection system after December 31.
“We have taken initiatives to strengthen the skill of our own manpower and we already went on the automation system in the customs houses to make the import hassle-free,” he said.
And if necessary, he added, the manpower in different embassies and high commissions would be engaged for checking the valuation of a particular product.
Majid said the government might consider extra facilities for the labour-intensive industries, which will be relocated from another country.
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