Staff Reporter :
The next budget must have clear and proper indications for the economic recovery amidst the ongoing pandemic, businesses and economists said.
Speaking at a webinar on Saturday, they also said the upcoming budget will have especial attention on industry and trade as the country’s economy is passing through a difficult time due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Dhaka Chamber of Commerce & Industry (DCCI) organized the webinar to discuss the issues that need to be addressed in the national budget to facilitate the businesses.
Dr Hossain Zilllur Rahman, Chairperson of BRAC, said, “The 2nd wave of the Covid-19 pandemic is going on and it may have a huge implication on the economy. The next budget should have a plan for recovering the country’s economy.”
He said achieving the revenue collection target is inevitable for a budget but the government must consider incentives for the pandemic-hit businesses specially the CMSMEs.
For the growth trajectory, domestic industry needs to be incentivized beside the export sector, Rahman said.
“We need a transition from cheap labour economy to skilled labour economy and a game changing policy review needs to be famed,” he added.
Rizwan Rahman, DCCI President, said that the next budget must be business and, revenue friendly one and will have a clear indication for the economic recovery amidst the pandemic.
He also said that if the government works with the help of vibrant private sector hand in hand, the economy will be able to recover despite the pandemic. Jashim Uddin, Vice Chairman of the Bengal Group of Industries, said that the next budget should give incentives to the industry sector for employment generation.
Urging for deduction of corporate tax, he said that all the problemmes related to the tax, VAT, AIT, SD and customs duty need to be solved.
He also urged for strengthening backward linkage industry and imposing antidumping and countervailing duty if needed, to protect the domestic industry.
Dr Mashiur Rahman, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Economic Affairs said that the revenue target achieve without hampering economic activities is a priority.
“We should focus on increasing revenue collection for development as well as needs to facilitate the businesses. If revenue target is not achieved, development work will be slowed down,” he added.
He also said that frequent changes in tax rate may hamper business growth.
Syed Golam Kibria, Member of Customs Policy & ICT of the NBR, said that they are working for the trade facilitation agreement compliance, tariff rationalization.
Masud Sadik, Member of VAT Policy of the NBR, said, “We are focusing on automation of VAT return. We had only 48,000 offline VAT return and in future offline VAT returns system may be stopped as online system ensures more transparency.”
“We are working for increasing tax net without hampering businesses,” he added.
