RMG demands ignored in budget: BGMEA

Garment sector’s demands have not been reflected in the proposed budget, said Bangladesh’s top apparel body BGMEA.

In its post-budget reaction, Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) said although the RMG sector have placed several demands, none of them has been included in the budget proposed for the FY2021-22.

However, BGMEA expressed satisfaction for continuing 1 percent incentive for the RMG sector and not changing the existing facilities in the proposed budget.

BGMEA President Faruque Hassan talked about details of the budget from their perspectives at the press conference at Uttara office in Dhaka Saturday.

BGMEA president welcomed the proposal to reduce or withdraw import duty on some machine parts and chemicals used in the garment sector and reducing AIT from 4 percent to 3 percent on the import of raw materials.

The President demanded that the source tax be kept unchanged for the next five years, to keep the environment conducive for investments, and a 10 percent incentive for the export of non-cotton fabric or man-made fiber products.

At the same time, considering the pandemic situation, BGMEA president also urged the government to increase the incentive rate from 4 percent to 5 percent to keep the export in the unconventional market.

Hailing the budget for focusing on business and investment, he thanked the government for granting 20 years of tax exemption to large domestic industries like automobile sector, 10-year tax break to home appliance and agro processing industry and 10-year tax exemption in light engineering sector.

Finance Minister placed a lofty Tk 6.04 trillion budget for FY22 with huge tax cuts, including 2.5 percentage points cut in corporate tax, mostly for businesses and local industries with a hope to create jobs to help corona recovery.

Among others, BGMEA senior vice-president SM Mannan Kochi, vice-presidents Shahidullah Azim, Nasir Uddin and Rafiqul Islam, Rakibul Islam were present on the occasion.