Staff Reporter :
Local manufactures, economists and experts noted that a conducive and industrial-friendly budget for the fiscal year 2022-23 has been proposed which will boost the local lift manufacturing sector.
Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal in the proposed budget for the FY 2022-23 discouraged import of lift or elevator through raising import duties and aims to protect huge investment of local entrepreneurs in this sector.
The demand for lift in the domestic market is going up, mentioning it the minister noted that local entrepreneurs already made huge investment in the lift manufacturing industry.
Dhaka University’s Professor at Economics Department Mohammad Shahadat Hossain Siddiqui said, ‘Encouraging domestic industry is a prerequisite for sustaining the continuous progress of any country. If the local infant industry have to compete at the very begging, the industry will be at stake. The government have to assure proper policy supports to protect and boost the domestic infant industry.’
Mentioning the name of a local lift manufacturing industry, he said, they are raising the country’s
self-dependency, reducing import and also brightening Bangladesh’s goodwill in the global arena. Giving benefits to domestic producers is definitely a positive aspect for us, he noted. Renowned economist Dr. Kazi Khaliquzzaman said, in the proposed budget, ‘The import of products, which are manufactured or can be produced in the country, have been discouraged. Thus, domestic entrepreneurs and industries will be benefited and economic activity will also increase. We see this as positive.’
In Bangladesh, there are huge demand for lift. According to the National Board of Revenue (NBR), Bangladesh imported Tk 707 crore worth lift amid corona in 2020 and the import were jumped to Tk 885 crore in 2021. According to industry insiders, the domestic market of lift stands at Tk 1,200 crore. The annual market is growing up by 20 percent.
Former NBR chairman Muhammad Abdul Mazid said, ‘The government generally takes such steps for the local industrial development. It plays an effective role in the development of industrialization, as well as ‘Made in Bangladesh’ boost-up. As a result, our responsibility in this field increases and entrepreneurs are also created in the country.’
