Kazi Zahidul Hasan :As the national budget for the fiscal year (FY) 2016-17 is around the corner, industry leaders are waiting with a lot of expectations from the government expressing their wish lists may be reflected in the new budget.Leaders of the country’s leading chamber bodies and trade associations earlier urged the government to deliver a business-friendly budget to allow firms and industries to promote growth, investment and create new jobs.”The budget should emphasize more on infrastructure spending and offer incentives to the exporters. Reduction of customs duty and corporate tax are inevitable for the growth of trade and industry, and attracting foreign direct investment (FDI),” Rupali Chowdhury, President of the Foreign Investors’ Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) told The New Nation on Saturday.She added: Uninterrupted supply of electricity and gas to industrial units, streamlining regulatory regime and reducing cost of doing business are all the important areas in which the new budget should focus.”The government should deliver a business-friendly budget. It should have bold steps to support trade and industries as well as boosting investment,” M Matlub Ahmed, President of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industries (FBCCI) told The New Nation yesterday.He said: We want to see less regulatory barriers for the local industries and they (local industries) need to be protected from the external threats such as liberal imports in the upcoming budget.Matlub Ahmed further said businesses are largely affected by high cost of bank credit. High borrowing cost is hindering the smooth growth of private sector. So, the business community wants to see an appropriate policy direction in the next budget to reduce the lending rates.The FBCCI chief held the view that only a strong and prosperous private sector can generate taxes needed for the public expenditure. “But, in order to achieve this goal, businesses need an environment in which they can thrive, create jobs, generate national wealth and can export goods and services abroad,” he noted. While speaking about his pre-budget wish list, Abdus Salam Murshedy, President of the Exporters Association of Bangladesh (EAB) said the country’s export-oriented industries are now facing a tough time due to various external and internal factors.”The ongoing global slowdown, energy crisis and high cost of doing business have adversely affected the country’s export sector. Many export-oriented industries are now sitting idle due to falling demand from the global market. Besides, many of them cannot go for full production as a result of gas and power shortage,” he added.Considering the fact, Murshedy said, the government should supply fuel and electricity at subsidized rate to the industrial units and ensure uninterrupted power supply to them to make their production unaffected.He also urged the government to increase cash incentives by at least 15 per cent to the textile and clothing sector and reduce tax at source against the backdrop of a sluggish global demand and to make local export sector competitive in the global market.The EAB leader said that they are not happy with the current tax regime and urged the government for a drastic overhauling of it.”There are too many different taxes to be paid and we expect the upcoming budget will address our concerns to boost trade and investment,” he added.
