Govt lowers source tax to 0.7pc for all sectors

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Govt lowers source tax to 0.7pc for all sectors

The government has reduced income tax at source to 0.70 per cent for all the export-oriented sectors, except jute and jute goods sector, which has been enjoying 0.60 per cent tax rate.

The source tax for the export industries was increased to 1.0 per cent from 0.70 per cent in the budget for the current fiscal year (FY), 2017-18.

The Internal Resources Division (IRD) under the Ministry of Finance issued a Statutory Regulatory Order (SRO), dated August 05, in this regard.

The Income Tax Wing under the National Board of Revenue (NBR) issued the SRO with retrospective effect from July 1, 2017. The order will remain effective until June 30, 2018.

The source tax has been reduced to the preceding degree following demands of the exporters.

Talking to the FE, Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) president Md Siddiqur Rahman welcomed the decision.

“The source tax be lots decrease than the reduced rate, thinking about growth of the export sectors in Bangladesh,” he added.

The exporters of a variety of items, which includes knitwear, woven garments, terry towel, carton and add-ons of garment industry, frozen food, vegetables, leather-based and leather-based goods, and packed meals etc, will experience the reduced charge like the preceding FY.

Banks deduct the tax at source at the time of crediting export proceeds to the exporters’ accounts.

Jute and jute goods exporters have been enjoying 0.60 per cent tax at source from FY 2015-16 that will continue until June 2019.

However, Income Tax Wing feared Tk 9.0 billion shortfall in its projected revenue collection in this FY due to the discount of tax at source for exporters.

On the basis of tax measures in the countrywide budget, NBR estimated the extra revenue, as the source tax was once accelerated to 1.0 per cent from 0.70 per cent.

According to Income Tax Ordinance 1984, the rate of supply tax on export is 1.0 per cent since FY 2015-16. Every year the income board reduces the charge through issuing SRO to extend the tax benefit.

Until NBR troubles any SRO for decreasing the rate, the 1.0 per cent tax at supply for export-earning sectors automatically comes into effect as per the profits tax ordinance, officials said.

The source tax will be considered as advance tax as properly as minimal income tax on export proceeds. The exporters will have to pay extra profits tax, if they exhibit additional income from the export sectors in income tax returns, they added.

Meanwhile, NBR additionally issued any other SRO, reducing the company profits tax for knitwear and woven clothes manufacturers and exporters to 12 per cent for FY 2017-18. Last year, the charge was 20 per cent.

There are distinct company earnings tax rates in the u . s . a . for distinctive sectors.

The reduced corporate tax fee for RMG exporters has been declared in the price range for FY 2017-18. But NBR issued the SRO on August 5, giving retrospective impact from July 1, 2017.

Green factories, having worldwide green building certification, will enjoy 10 per cent corporate tax fee on their earnings from export proceedings.

Talks on for gas pipeline from Chittagong to Tripura: Pradhan

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Talks on for gas pipeline from Chittagong to Tripura: Pradhan

Agartala, Aug 7 () The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has taken up with Bangladesh for laying a pipeline for carrying natural gas from Chittagong to Tripura to meet the crisis of cooking gas (LPG) in the North-eastern region, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said today.

“We are laying a pipeline for transportation of diesel from Siliguri in West Bengalto Parvatipur in Bangladesh. There is pipeline for carrying diesel from Numaligarh oil refinery in Assam to Siliguri.

“In exchange, we have given the proposal for a gas pipeline from Chittagong to Tripura. We are pursuing the matter diplomatically and I would also visit Bangladesh soon,” Pradhan told reporters here.

The pipeline if approved by the Bangladesh government would be laid by the side of the rail lines which pass near the Indo-Bangla international border, he said.

Pradhan launched the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana in Tripura here and distributed LPG connection to 20 below poverty line (BPL) families .

In Tripura 9.22 lakh households are having LPG connections and efforts are on to bring 100 per cent coverage in the days to come.

The Oil minister also laid the foundation for a new grassroots bottling plant here with 60 TMTPA capacity with an estimated cost of Rs 143 crore which would be completed by 2019.

Pradhan said, now about 4.5 lakh households are covered by the existing bottling plant out of total 9.22 households having LPG connection.

With the completion of the new bottling plant the capacity of supplying LPG would be doubled and most of the households would be covered, he added. JOY RG

Tesco faces record $5.6b equal pay claim

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Tesco faces record $5.6b equal pay claim

Supermarket group Tesco is facing a potential bill of up to 4 billion pounds ($5.6 billion) to bring the wages of its female employees into line with men, according to the law firm pursuing Britain’s largest equal pay claim.

Tesco is Britain’s biggest retailer and its largest private sector employer with more than 310,000 staff.

Law firm Leigh Day said on Wednesday the mainly male staff in the company’s distribution centres were paid considerably more than its largely female store workers. The law firm said it was also working on claims at supermarket rivals Sainsbury’s and Asda, the British arm of Walmart.

Unequal pay for men and women is currently a hot topic in Britain’s boardrooms and corridors of power. The resignation last month of Carrie Gracie as China Editor for the BBC led to an investigation into pay differences at the public broadcaster.

British Business Secretary Greg Clark told Sky News he was “surprised” by the scale of the claim against Tesco.

A Tesco spokesman stated the firm had not yet received a claim.

“Tesco has always been a area for human beings to get on in their career, regardless of their gender, background or education, and we work hard to make certain all our colleagues are paid fairly and equally for the jobs they do,” he said.

Tesco shares were down 0.9 percentage at 1010 GMT.

Leigh Day stated Tesco distribution centre workforce may additionally earn in extra of 11 kilos ($15.4) an hour, while the most frequent grade for shop personnel saw them acquire around eight pounds per hour.

This disparity could see a full time distribution worker on the same hours earning over a hundred kilos a week – or 5,000 kilos a 12 months – more than female save staff.

The law company said extra than 200,000 Tesco employees may additionally be underpaid and estimated shortfalls may want to attain 20,000 kilos each, which means the manageable bill for Tesco should be as high as four billion pounds.

Leigh Day said it had already started submitting claims on behalf of its customers through conciliation service ACAS, the first stage in the Employment Tribunal process.

It said it had been approached via over 1,000 personnel and former employees of Tesco.

“In terms of equal well worth to the enterprise there certainly have to be no argument that people in stores, compared to those working in distribution centres, make contributions at least equal value to the large income made by means of Tesco,” said Leigh Day employment attorney Paula Lee.

The firm stated it was once also representing over 20,000 shop-floor workers in equal pay claims towards rival grocery store agencies Sainsbury’s and Asda.

Paramount to build 200MW plant

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Paramount to build 200MW plant

Paramount BTrac Energy Consortium is going to set up a 200-megawatt power plant in Sirajganj.

The cabinet committee on purchase approved the associated Power Division proposal yesterday. The proposal says the government would purchase electricity at Tk 19.96 per kW/h from the diesel-based power plant.

The tenure of the plant will be five years. The sponsor company will purchase the land and construct the transmission line and sub-station at its own cost. If the power plant is built on Power Development Board’s (PDB) land, the company has to pay PDB Tk 1.92 lakh for every acre per year.
If industrial operations do no longer begin via the schedule, it would grant compensation at $200 per megawatt for every day.

In every other development, the tenure of a 34.5MW condo power plant in Bhola set up with the aid of Venture Energy Resource Ltd has been extended through three greater years. The cupboard committee has accepted the extension of the tenure and new tariff. An agreement used to be signed with the agency in 2008. Its tenure has been extended a number of times.

During the amended tenure, the PDB will buy electrical energy at Tk 3.21 per kW/h. The charge was once the identical earlier.

Another cabinet committee on financial affairs has authorized a idea for opening Tangail Cotton Mills of Bangladesh Textile Mills Corporation beneath a public-private partnership initiative.
If industrial operations do no longer begin via the schedule, it would grant compensation at $200 per megawatt for every day.

In every other development, the tenure of a 34.5MW condo power plant in Bhola set up with the aid of Venture Energy Resource Ltd has been extended through three greater years. The cupboard committee has accepted the extension of the tenure and new tariff. An agreement used to be signed with the agency in 2008. Its tenure has been extended a number of times.

During the amended tenure, the PDB will buy electrical energy at Tk 3.21 per kW/h. The charge was once the identical earlier.

Another cabinet committee on financial affairs has authorized a idea for opening Tangail Cotton Mills of Bangladesh Textile Mills Corporation beneath a public-private partnership initiative.

Foreign investors want to buy 25pc stake in DSE

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Foreign investors want to buy 25pc stake in DSE

Three separate consortiums from China and India have showed interest in acquiring 45 crore shares or 25 percent ownership of the Dhaka Stock Exchange and becoming a strategic partner of the premier bourse.

The DSE has a total of 180 crore shares, the face value of each is Tk 10.

A consortium of the Shanghai Stock Exchange‎ and the Shenzhen Stock Exchange proposed buying 45 crore shares — which is 25 percent of DSE’s shares — at Tk 22 each. They will also provide technical support of $37 million, which is about Tk 300 crore.

But the Chinese investors also demanded a seat at the DSE board.

The National Stock Exchange of India proposed Tk 15 for each share of the DSE through two different consortiums, one in partnership with the American Nasdaq and another with the private equity fund Frontier Fund Bangladesh.

All three proposals were placed at the DSE‘s board assembly held on Tuesday at its headquarters.

Most of the contributors of the board agreed to accept the proposal of the Chinese consortium as they have the experience about stock trade investment, said a board member. two “But no decision has been made. The DSE is scrutinising the proposals,” he said, including that the chosen suggestion will be despatched to the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission for approval, he added.

The DSE’s hunt for a strategic partner comes as phase of its conditions for demutualisation in 2013, which transformed it from an entity owned by primarily brokerage-owning individuals into a for-profit employer owned by shareholders.

The pass separated the bourse’s administration from ownership, and used to be a most important advice of the inventory market probe performed by way of a authorities panel in the aftermath of the market crash of 2011.

According to the Demutualisation Act 2013, 40 percentage shares of the stock exchange’s shares be allocated to DSE members, 25 percentage to international stock exchange and 35 percentage to the public.

On December 9, 2015, the BSEC beneath the Demutualisation Act 2013 directed the DSE to get a strategic investor inside a year.

The commission later extended the deadline to June 30, 2017 following a plea from the DSE.

Duty benefit won’t vanish overnight

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Duty benefit won’t vanish overnight

Duty-free and quota-free access for Bangladesh’s exports will not come to a screeching halt the moment the country graduates from the least developed country bracket, said an expert yesterday.

“There is hope,” said Zahid Hussain, lead economist of the World Bank’s Dhaka office, at a session on Bangladesh’s transition from LDC status at the Bangladesh Development Forum that ended yesterday.

There are non-LDCs who get LDC benefits and there are LDCs who do not get LDC benefits, he said.

“My point is there are other factors that are also at work,” Hussain said at the event organised by the finance ministry at the capital’s Sonargaon hotel.

Bilateral negotiations with trading partners, particularly with the EU and Canada, can limit the loss of preferential market access.

“What we need is proactive efforts in growing our negotiating capacity.”

He called upon policymakers to investigate the impact on Bangladesh for transitioning from LDCs such that troubles and concerns can be raised exact in negotiations during the transition period.

The country’s exports may additionally face an expand in tariffs in the markets the place its products get duty-free and quota-free get right of entry to at present.

This may additionally put 5.5-7.5 percent of Bangladesh’s exports at risk, he stated citing estimates by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and the Centre for Policy Dialogue.

So, there are challenges but there are also opportunities, Hussain said.

“And we can also renegotiate some of the provisos that currently exist which we do now not like,” he stated citing the Rules of Origin as a case in point.

His comment got here as a United Nations panel, the Committee for Development Policy (CDP), is predicted to put Bangladesh on its commencement list this 12 months as the united states of america meets all three criteria: Gross National Income per capita, Human Assets Index and Economic Vulnerability Index.

The CDP will overview Bangladesh’s development in 2021, and after a three-year transition period, respectable commencement from the LDC category will take place.

Hussain said Bangladesh graduate with momentum.

“We have to capitalise on the demographic dividend,” he said, whilst calling for building human capital via health, schooling and skills, increased funding and innovation-enabling reforms. Ahsan H Mansur, govt director of the Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh, said the u . s . desires to begin its homework now.

“We have to overcome the market get admission to issue. We have to negotiate,” he said, adding that Vietnam did nicely in negotiating exchange agreements with countries such as the US.

He additionally emphasised improving effectivity at all stages and the competencies of workers. In a paper on LDC transition, Economic Relations Division’s Secretary Kazi Shofiqul Azam stated international support will gradually be withdrawn as soon as Bangladesh strikes out of the LDC crew by way of 2024.

“Graduation will have have an impact on on Official Development Assistance,” he said, including that a debt administration approach would be required. The cross into the developing usa bracket will additionally open up possibilities for south-south trade.

“Non-LDC specific Generalised System of Preferences scheme will open new home windows of cooperation with creating countries.”

Reporting necessities and consultative efforts could be a proper chance for world support, he added.

Prime Minister’s Economic Affairs Adviser Mashiur Rahman, United Nations Industrial Development Organisation’s Regional Representative for South Asia Van Berkel Cornelius Wilhelmus Maria, and Commerce Secretary of Bangladesh Shubhashish Bose additionally spoke.

China’s waste import ban upends global recycling industry

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China’s waste import ban upends global recycling industry

Nations scrambling to find new places for growing piles of recyclables while some Chinese recycling companies have laid off staff or shut down,

BEIJING (AFP) – For years China was the world’s top destination for recyclable trash, but a ban on certain imports has left nations scrambling to find new dumping grounds for growing piles of garbage.

The decision was announced in July and came into force on January 1, giving companies from Europe to the United States barely six months to look for other options, and forcing some to store rubbish in parking lots.

In China, some recycling companies have had to lay off staff or shut down due to the lost business.

The ban bars imports of 24 categories of strong waste, which include sure kinds of plastics, paper and textiles.

“Large amounts of dirty… or even hazardous wastes are combined in the strong waste that can be used as raw materials. This polluted China’s surroundings seriously,” the surroundings ministry defined in a notice to the World Trade Organisation.

In 2015 alone, the Asian large offered 49.6 million tonnes of rubbish, according to the trendy authorities figures.
The European Union exports half of its accumulated and sorted plastics, 85 per cent of which goes to China. Ireland alone exported ninety five per cent of its plastic waste to China in 2016.

That equal year, the US shipped extra than 16 million tonnes of scrap commodities to China well worth more than $5.2 billion.

The ban has been like an “earthquake” for international locations based on China, said Mr Arnaud Brunet, head of the Bureau of International Recycling.

“It has put our industry below stress on account that China is absolutely the biggest market in the world” for recycled materials, he instructed AFP, noting that he anticipated exports of sure materials to tank through forty per cent or more.

Global plastic exports to China could sink from 7.4 million tonnes in 2016 to 1.5 million tonnes in 2018, while paper exports would possibly tumble nearly a quarter, in accordance to Brunet’s estimate.

The reduce will be partly due to a fall in the threshold of impurities China is willing to receive per tonne of waste – greater standards that most countries presently cannot meet.

Some are now searching at rising markets somewhere else such as India, Pakistan or south-east Asia, however it ought to be more expensive than shipping waste to China.

Sending recyclables to China is cheaper because they are placed on ships that would “otherwise be empty” when they return to the Asian usa after delivering client goods in Europe, said Mr Simon Ellin, chief govt of the Britain-based Recycling Association.

Mr Brunet also warned that many alternate international locations may not yet be up to the mission of filling China’s enormous shoes, considering “processing ability would not enhance overnight.” The ban dangers inflicting a “catastrophic” environmental trouble as backlogs of recyclable waste are rather incinerated or dumped in landfills with different refuse.

In the US, collectors of recyclables are already reporting “significant stockpiles” of materials, said Ms Adina Renee Adler, senior director of international relations at the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI).

“Some municipalities have announced that they will both no longer take sure substances or direct them to landfills,” she said.

Mr Brandon Wright, a spokesman for the US National Waste and Recycling Association, informed AFP that some facilities had been storing stock backyard or in parking lots.

The ban has additionally created challenges for Chinese agencies established on overseas waste.

“It will be very hard to do business,” stated Mr Zhang Jinglian, owner of the Huizhou Qinchun plastic recycling business enterprise in southern Guangdong province.

More than half their plastics were imported, and as prices for such uncooked substances go up, manufacturing will be decreased by way of at least a third, he said. He had already let go a dozen employees.

Others, such as Nantong Heju Plastic Recycling in coastal Jiangsu province, will “no longer do business” at all, a representative said.

But at the equal time, the ban ought to jolt China into improving its own patchy recycling systems, allowing it to reuse extra neighborhood materials, said Greenpeace plastics professional Liu Hua.

“In China at the moment, there isn’t a complete, prison and regulated recycling device in place,” he said, with even massive cities like Beijing reliant on unlawful scavengers.

“When there are not sources coming from abroad, there is a greater possibility of us enhancing our own interior recycling.”

In Europe, the ban ought to also have the advantageous impact of prompting countries to center of attention on creating domestic recycling industries, said Mr Jean-Marc Boursier, president of the European Federation of Waste Management and Environmental Services.

“The Chinese selection forces us to ask ourselves whether or not we wouldn’t be interested in making processing flowers in Europe so as to export products as an alternative than waste,” he said.

On Tuesday, the EU unveiled plans to section out single-use plastics such as espresso cups and make all plastic packaging recyclable by 2030

 

Bangladesh seeks duty-free access for RMG to Russia

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Bangladesh seeks duty-free access for RMG to Russia

Commerce minister Tofail Ahmed speaks with visiting deputy agriculture minister of Russia Levin Sergey Lvovich at Bangladesh Secretariat on Sunday. — PDI photo

Commerce minister Tofail Ahmed on Sunday sought duty- free market access of all Bangladeshi export products, including readymade garments, to Russia to increase trade volume between the two countries.
Russia has given duty-free, quota-free market access of 71 Bangladeshi products but the country’s main export product RMG is not included in the list.
‘I have requested Russia to give duty-free, quota-free market access of all Bangladeshi export products, including RMG, as per the decision of the ministerial conference of World Trade Organisation,’ Tofail told reporters after a meeting with Russia’s deputy agriculture minister Levin Sergey Lvovich at Bangladesh Secretariat.

Tofail said that Bangladesh had signed a memorandum of grasp to be a member of Eurasian Economic Commission and with a bit of luck Bangladesh would achieve the membership and Russia would grant duty-free market get entry to like European Union.
The commerce minister stated that Bangladesh exported potato to Russia and thinking about the demand of Russia, it ought to be the doable market for Bangladeshi potato.
‘We discussed a lot of things which include political, financial and bilateral alternate family members between the two countries,’ Lvovich told reporters.
Replying to a question, the Russian minister said that the two international locations had been working intently to extend the balance of trade.
‘I do consider that the issues related to opening letter of credit score for export and import business would be resolved shortly,’ Lvovich said.
The Russian deputy minister sought aid from Bangladesh to be the host country of World Expo 2025.
Commerce minister Tofail Ahmed stated that Russia’s request concerning World Expo 2025 would be in consideration as the united states is a appropriate pal of Bangladesh in view that the liberation was once in 1971.
He stated that a complete of four international locations — Russia, France, Azerbaijan and Japan — are attempting to be the host of World Expo 2025.
The match takes region in each five years and the next model would be held at Dubai in 2020, the commerce minister added. two

City Group gets licence to set up economic zone

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City Group gets licence to set up economic zone

City Group got a licence from Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (Beza) yesterday to set up “City Economic Zone Limited” on 77.96 acres of land in Narayanganj’s Rupganj.

The group has already opened letters of credit to import machinery for three industrial units inside the zone, according to a press statement.

With electricity connections already in place for investors, the zone expects to employ 3,000 people within the first year of commercial production and take it to over 20,000 in the next five years.

Industries expected to open plants include food and beverage and export oriented business organisations.

The government plans to set up 100 new economic zones to generate one crore new jobs, earn $40 billion in additional exports and attract $20 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI), all by 2030.

Beza has already awarded prequalification licences for the establishment of 15 non-public economic zones.

Licences approving begin of operations were given to Meghna Economic Zone, Meghna Industrial Economic Zone, Abdul Monem Economic Zone, Aman Economic Zone and Bay Economic Zone.

A developer has been appointed for Mongla Economic Zone while a letter of award was issued to improve the first phase of Mirsarai Economic Zone. There has also been full-size growth in the improvement of tourism parks.

A whole of 212 acres of land have been allocated for investors at Shreehatta Economic Zone, which goals to create 43,000 fresh jobs and bring an estimated FDI of $1.3 billion.

Investment proposals well worth $10 billion have already been acquired towards the Mirsarai and Feni economic zones, in accordance to Beza.

Paban Chowdhury, executive chairman of Beza, and Fazlur Rahman, chairman of City Group, have been existing at the awarding programme in the Beza headquarters in the capital.

Bepza summit for global investors today

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Bepza summit for global investors today

Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (Bepza) is set to organise “Bepza International Investors Summit 2018” today highlighting its contribution to the economy in the past nine years.

The summit will shed light on its achievements in investment, export and employment generation, said a Bepza statement yesterday. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the ceremony at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre. At the programme, she will also open a Bepza economic zone through a video conference.

Bepza will additionally highlight its function in strengthening the country’s financial base thru organising a secure, peaceful and investment-friendly local weather for industries, industrialisation, foreign direct investment at the lowest manufacturing cost and countrywide exports.

Bepza Executive Chairman Maj Gen Mohd Habibur Rahman Khan will preside over the ceremony. Finance Minister AMA Muhith and Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed will additionally be present.