SMEs for reducing of import duties in next fiscal

Image: Bizbangladesh.net
Small and medium entrepreneurs (SMEs) have emphasised for reducing of import duties and call for an SME-friendly budget for the next fiscal year.  



The SME foundation put forward proposals to the National Board of Revenue (NBR) for the fiscal year 2019-2020, where they proposed reducing duties from imported goods including raw materials of agricultural capital equipment processing industry, one time plastic utensils, polycarbonate, primary polymer, and coir fiber, among other goods, to reduce production costs in the industries.

Besides, SME foundation also proposed to the Bangladesh Bank for Tk 50 crore as SMEs loan for the first time in the next budget.  

Md Nazeem Hasan Satter, general manager of SME foundation told The Independent that these proposals were intended for the well-being of small and medium enterprises. Small and medium enterprises will be the foundation of our prosperity in the future.

He said reducing import duties will allow small and medium enterprises to import raw materials at a cheaper rate, thus lowering the production cost which will in turn enable them to compete with foreign products.

“For the first time, we have proposed Tk 50 crore as SMEs loan from the Bangladesh bank for this fiscal year. Before that we used to manage this loan from our own money. In the 2018-2019 fiscal, we have disbursed more than Tk 80 crore,” he said.  

Experts said it is important to provide SMEs appropriate policy support to develop the sector and to increase SMEs’ contribution to the country’s GDP.

Still SMEs are unable to thrive in Bangladesh because of some major challenges like lack of fiscal incentives, management problems, access to finance, policy inconsistency and bureaucracy, said experts.

In the SME foundation proposal, they proposed increasing tariffs on certain products such as electric switches, lamp holders, plugs and sockets, electric cable clips, and other electrical goods to help local producers survive against foreign competition.  

The entrepreneurs called through SME foundation for simplification of rules and regulations of Value Added Tax (VAT). They proposed increasing the limits of VAT-free turnover so that SMEs fall in the VAT free zone.

The foundation also proposed to provide tax free facility for the new SMEs entrepreneurs of all sectors for 10 years.  

Satter said the country has a huge possibility in the SME sector. If the government or Bangladesh Bank can ensure loans for the real SMEs, there would be a huge opportunity to reduce unemployment,” he said.

“We basically work to give bank loans bank to a possible Cluster and Clientele Group,” he said.  

“We have made the proposal on basis of SMEs demand. This year, we have worked with 1,712 entrepreneurs. Of them, 1,200 were male and 512 were female,” said Masum Billah, manager (public relation) of SME Foundation.

He said, processing zones need to be formed for processing agricultural commodity. “We have proposed for setting up separate processing zones for agricultural products.”

“We have proposed to permit export and supply of goods on the basis of purchase order,” he said.

According to BB data, SMEs got Tk 114,461 crore as loans up to September last year. In 2016, the loan disbursement to SMEs was Tk141, 935 crore while in 2017 was Tk 161,811 crore.
Source: http://www.theindependentbd.com

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