BCI hails proposed budget

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Economic Reporter :
Bangladesh Commerce of Industries (BCI) on Saturday hailed the proposed budget for the fiscal 2020-21.
In a reaction regarding the proposed budget, BCI President Anwar-Ul Alam Chowdhury Parvez thanked the government to give directions in the proposed budget to combat the Covid-19 pandemic.
He said the government has increased the allocation in different sectors, including trade and commerce, health, agriculture, fisheries and livestock and food security, which is laudable.
He thanked the Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal for raising the tax-free income limit for individuals to Taka 3 lakh and fixing minimum tax at 5 percent and maximum tax limit at 25 percent.
The BIC president proposed to reduce the advance tax on import of raw materials from 5 percent to 4 percent and to adjust the advance tax to four tax periods instead of two tax periods.
He requested the government to provide special incentive for the new entrepreneurs. “The effect of Covid-19 may increase the unemployment rate. For dealing with the situation, special incentives need for creating new entrepreneurs,” he added.
In the current budget, he said, a total allocation of Taka 10,000 crore has been proposed to deal with Covid-19.
“This money needs to be spent fairly and prudently. The BCI believes that in order to give more priority to primary health care in the management of the health sector, the allocation in this sector should be spent efficiently,” he added.
He called for disbursement of all incentive packages, including Taka 20,000 crore for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and Taka 30,000 crore for large industries, announced by the government through commercial banks immediately.
Finally, he expressed gratitude to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on behalf of the BCI for the financial incentive packages to tackle the impact of Covid-19.
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