Staff Reporter :
The National Board of Revenue (NBR) now exempted at the 4 per cent Advance Tax (AT) on non-refined imported palm oil to pull the rain of soaring price of the key cooking ingredient.
The NBR issued a circular in this regard on Monday as per a recommendation by the Commerce Ministry as well as demand from the local refiners.
As per the circular, the facility will be available only for registered importers of the country. Earlier, the NBR withdrew 4 per cent AT on soya bean oil to keep control the price.
The decision will help reducing the soaring prices of the edible oil on the market amid the ongoing unusual situation, NBR officials said.
The sector insiders, however, said not the consumers but the businesses will be benefited from the decision.
The prices of the soya bean oil and palm oil have been skyrocketing in the country in recent months following the price hike of non-refined soya bean oil in the international market.
Currently, the price of non-refined soybean oil is $1,275 per tonne in the international markets while the price of non-refined palm oil is $1,037 per tonne.
Bangladesh annually consumes nearly 20 lakh tonnes of edible oil and imports meet 90 per cent of the demand.
Mohammad Mustafa Haider, Director of the TK Group, the The New Nation, “The withdrawal of AT will not impact on the prices of the edible oil. In fact, the prices are increasing day by day.”
“If the government wants keep the price stable or reduction, it will have to reduce Value-Added Tax (VAT) and Duty at import level or the government will have to fix package VAT at single stage at the moment,” he added. “Otherwise, the consumers will not be facilitated from the withdrawal of the AT, unless the price declines in the international markets,” he added.
NBR officials, however, said that it is quite difficult to withdraw of VAT and Duty on the imported edible oil.
“If the NBR does it, the sector will be out of tax net and the government will lose huge amount of revenue,” the officials said.
The price of one-litre bottle of soya bean oil increased by 30- 46 per cent to Tk137-140 within a year as the price of the item was Tk 100-110 in April of the last year.
Unpackaged soya bean oil is selling at Tk 122-125 a litre and supper palm oil sold for Tk 112-115 a litre in the country’s kitchen markets.
A year back, the price of unpackaged soya bean oil was Tk 93-95 and palm oil was Tk 73-75 a litre, according to a data of the state-run Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB).
