Bangladesh cement producers demand tax withdrawal

Image collected
Bangladesh’s cement makers have urged the federal government to withdraw the advance tax (AIT) and great customs duty levied in clinker imports so as to ensure the industry’s survival.

In a post-funds press briefing led by the Bangladesh Cement Manufacturers Association (BCMA), the industry argued that the non-adjustable AIT (advance tax), which is authorised under two subsections of tax ordinance, is 'unjust' as a company has to pay this tax regardless if it incurs a loss.

Through the briefing, the BCMA discussed that the industry is normally facing heavy losses because of the result of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Moreover, as well as the AIT, the import duty on raw materials is placing a further cost burden on companies, raising creation costs and reducing profitability.

BCMA President Alamgir Kabir said, “We had requested the federal government to eliminate the three % import duty on recycleables, three % non-adjustable AIT and reduce the import duty on clinker to at least BDT300/t [USD3.53/t] from the prevailing BDT500/t [USD5.88/t] on pre-budget proposals”.

“We are actually frustrated that our needs were unaddressed in the proposed funds,” he said.

“If the government does not take away the three per cent non-adjustable tax, then at least it ought to be declared as adjustable tax”, he added.

The president said the cement makers experiencing a serious drop in revenues following nationwide lockdown during the last two-and-a-half months, when almost 90 % of factories had stopped production.

“Affected by the coronavirus pandemic, the sector counted a loss of about BDT3000 crore from March 26 till at this point”, he added.
Source: https://www.cemnet.com

Tags :

Share this news on:

Previous Story

Trending Topics

Archive