Even as the Finance Minister presented the proposed budget for the fiscal year 2021-22 before the parliament recently, the garment accessories’ manufacturers in Bangladesh have demanded cash incentives similar to what the Government has provided to exporters of apparels and other export-oriented sectors.
The Bangladesh Garments Accessories and Packaging Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGAPMEA) has demanded 1 per cent incentive as a deemed exporter even if it called for reducing the corporate tax rate of this sector to 12 per cent like the garment industry, to withdraw the existing income tax on the purchase of raw materials for export from the local market, and to halve the tax at the source of export.
Demanding a 1 per cent incentive as a deemed exporter, BGAPMEA President Md. Abdul Kader Khan maintained that for many years financial incentives have been given to more than 35 products to encourage exports even as garment accessories and packaging industries were yet to get this benefit despite being 100 per cent export-oriented and belonging to the small to medium scale industries.
