Bangladesh
Truck overturns on Dhaka-Chattogram highway, killing 2
At least two people were killed and another injured when a paddy-laden truck overturned on Dhaka-Chattogram highway in Chattogram's Mirsharai upazila on Thursday afternoon.
The deceased were identified as truck driver Zahid Hossain, 25, of Firoz Shah Colony of Akbarshah Police Station in Chattogram and paddy trader Md. Sajeed Mia,24.
The identity of the injured could not be ascertained immediately.
The accident occurred around 5:30 pm when the truck driver lost control of the overloaded vehicle, said Delwar Hossain, sub-inspector (SI) of Zorarganj highway police station.
"The truck overturned at Sufia Road area near Gulistan CNG filling station of Mirsarai Upazila, leaving two people dead and another injured on the spot," he added.
"Police recovered the bodies and seized the truck, the police officer said, adding that the bodies will be handed over to their families after due procedures."
Proposed budget targets are challenging: FICCI
The proposed targets are challenging however if achieved, it will bring momentum to the economy, the Foreign Investors' Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) said in its reaction to the proposed budget placed by Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal for FY2023-24 in Parliament on Thursday.
The Chamber appreciated the increase in allocation in the power & energy sector. However, allocation for the health, agriculture, and educational sectors does not seem to be adequate. We feel that the Government should concentrate on enhancing the quality of spending, which could bring further efficiency as well as generate employment. It also expresses concern about bridging the deficit from banking sources which may further tighten the liquidity situation.
It appreciated the following proposals, made in the proposed budget:
•Increase of initial threshold for tax-free income by Tk 25,000 to Tk 50,000 for different classes of assesses. However, considering the high inflationary trend, this may not be adequate.
•Introduction of environment surcharge for owning multiple motor cars is a nice initiative for protecting the environment. However, corporations should be excluded as they would need multiple vehicles for its operation.
•The Chamber welcomes the decision to enact a new Income Tax Act 2023 if it includes reformation aligning with vision 2041 of smart Bangladesh. At this stage the Chamber can not comment on the details as it has not been made available in today’s budget session. However, the Chamber expects an English version of the Income Tax Act 2023 will be made available simultaneously for review of the foreign investors.
Apart from the above, Chamber has the following concerns:
•Application of change in the tax rate/amendments with retrospective effect has not been considered to make it prospective.
•In order to enjoy a preferential corporate tax rate of 20% provision of cash transaction limit based on expenditure incurred by a company has not been addressed and floating shares through IPO only has not been amended to include RPO.
•Chamber request for rationalizing the definition of input in line with the global best practice has not been addressed.
•There is no new incentive for local industry development however, government has imposed additional VAT for some local manufacturer e.g. smartphone manufactures, software development and customization, etc.
•Chamber’s proposal for integrated IT strategy, introduction of e-invoicing in line with other developed markets for bringing transparency in revenue collection has not been considered.
•Chamber’s concern on customs duty valuation process in line with the Customs Valuation Rules, 2000 has not been addressed.
Budget 2023-24 reaction: AmCham focuses on crisis management
The American Chamber of Commerce in Bangladesh (AmCham) in an instant reaction to the proposed budget on Thursday recommended focusing on a “crisis management contingency approach” in the wake of the global crisis.
Since the government of Bangladesh aims to attain a 7.5% growth rate in FY2023-24 containing the inflation during these difficult times heading for a new government to take over believing in “across the long journey of development, towards Smart Bangladesh,”, AmCham proposed the following recommendations.
No significant economic growth is conceivable without a sustained Foreign Exchange reserve growth. Hence, instead of a gross import ban, we should speed up the foreign-funde projects’ implementation and reconsider own funded projects having a sizeable import component ensuring safeguard against economic shocks caused by volatile energy inputs and help finance balance of payments deficits, Syed Ershad Ahmed president of American Chamber of Commerce in Bangladesh (AmCham) said in a press release.
Alternatives to increase export revenue: Instead of traditional heavily RMG dependent export basket, policy support should be extended towards business/industry for effective implementation of existing policy, create a user-friendly process and further allocation of national funds to enhance this potential source.
Import Duty and minimum tax: Considering the advance tax as the minimum tax paid by an industrial undertaking at import stage on raw materials in certain industries and the fixed (5%) minimum tax on the gross receipt would be detrimental for the existing investors, hence request to revisit this proposal for the best outcomes for businesses and consumers alike.
Renewable energy to offload existing supply chain: Investing in renewable energy not only benefits us environmentally but also contributes to economic growth through job creation, market expansion in related industries supporting clean-energy technologies. We recommend favorable immediate initiatives.
Income Tax policy diversity: Diverse policies in individual tax rates, exemptions, deductions, and credits affect different taxpayers based on their income levels, types of income sources, and other individual circumstances. We strongly recommend the National Board of Revenue (NBR) to adopt automation in all possible levels at the same time to focus more on expanding the Tax net. We suggest introducing the e-payment and e-TDS system and Digital Payments incentives to ensure accountability and transparency throughout the process.
Reducing per capita liability: It is a critical issue for developing countries that rely on external borrowing to drive economic growth . We recommend adoption of prudent debt management strategies that promote transparency, accountability and fiscal discipline.
Focused project on Climate vulnerability: All projects going anti-environment and against the notion of green economy should be abandoned. We strongly recommend creating budgetary allocation for such projects on climate vulnerability since Bangladesh is already experiencing erratic weather patterns.
It also appreciated and showed sincere gratitude for developing new and improved Logistics infrastructure with the support of Logistics Infrastructure Development Working Committee (LIDWC) from the Prime Minister’s Office.
By prioritizing the right budgetary allocations in infrastructure, education, technology, energy, and social inclusion, we can build a sustainable, better future for all.
AmCham believed budget execution is what matters in the end and should be measured for quantity and quality.
Earlier in the day, Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal placed the proposed national budget for FY2023-24 in Parliament with a deficit of Tk 2,61,785 crore with a focus on making a Smart Bangladesh and annual growth target of 7.5 percent.
Increase allocation to water & sanitation sector: DORP
The Development Organization of the Rural Poor (DORP) said it expects the government to play a more advanced role in the development of the health sector and poverty alleviation, by increasing the allocation to the water and sanitation sector in the proposed budget.
DORP said this in an immediate reaction to the presentation of the proposed budget for the fiscal year 2023-24 on Thursday.
In the press release, DORP Deputy Executive Director Mohammad Jobair Hasan said on behalf of the organization, "This year's budget is a large-scale deficit budget. Inflation may hamper the achievement of desired development targets, affecting service sectors as well. It may be difficult to address the budget deficit if the government fail to focus on diversified domestic resource collection and expanding the tax net.”
He mentioned that since development projects related to water and sanitation are associated with the basic services of the people like the health sector, adequate allocation in this sector is absolutely necessary.
"If there isn't adequate allocation and proper management of the basic services sector in the budget, it will affect other development sectors as well. So budget allocation should be ensured on the basis of fairness, necessity and priority.”
To deal with the budget deficit, Mohammad Zobair Hasan put forward several recommendations on behalf of DORP. These are, allocating the budget on a priority basis; increasing internal resource gathering; widening the tax net; increasing production and reducing import dependency and adopting necessary austerity policies.
He commented that to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 6 by 2030, the current allocation should be increased from Tk 12 thousand crore to Tk 22 thousand crore.
It should be noted that according to the Finance Strategy on SDG 2017 report prepared by the Planning Commission, it has been recommended to increase the additional expenditure at the rate of Tk 10,000 crore every year to achieve the sustainable development goals by 2030.
The deputy executive director of Dorp also said that if this growth initiative is taken in this year's budget, it will be reflected in the coming years.
Budget: Citizens give mixed reactions
The country’s budget for FY2023-24 was proposed on Thursday as Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal presented the national budget of Tk 761,785 crore with the aim of maintaining ongoing development and achieving higher growth.
As in previous years, Kamal suggested modifying the value-added tax (VAT) or charges on a number of goods and services.
This usually brings immediate effect on the cost of these goods and in most cases, the modification will take place on the day of budget announcement.
Providing instant reactions to UNB, people from different walks of life shared both positive and negative responses about the possible changes in the prices of everyday commodities and other services.
Products such as sanitary napkins, diapers, locally made electric bulbs, switches, meat and meat-related products, delivery charges of e-commerce, raw materials for cancer medicines and Malaria and TB medicines, to name a few, may come down in the proposed budget for the 2023-24 fiscal year.
Read more: Finance minister unveils the country’s largest ever budget in Parliament
“This is a very welcoming step as the price of sanitary napkins should go down. Rural and urban women and young girls are the direct sufferers if the prices of pads increase; and baby diapers are also one of the most essential commodities for newborns, so this decision is certainly a positive one,” said Sumaiya Mir, a mother who is currently pursuing her Master’s at a city university.
Meanwhile, items including mobile phones, goggles and sunglasses, all kinds of tissue, mobile phone set, gas cylinders, cement, bricks, imported foods such as nuts (cashew, almonds etc), coffee, dates and a lot of necessary household items including refrigerator, oven and devices such as printers, scanner, router, earphones, pen drives would be pricier than before.
“Adding the extra amount of tax, VAT and import duties on several telecommunication devices directly contradicts the vision of the government and it will hamper digitalisation across the country if devices like mobile phones, routers get pricier than before,” said Rafi Rahman, a banker.
Regarding the possible price hike of several kitchen electronic items , Nazma Akter, a garment worker residing in the city’s Rayer Bazar area, told UNB that this could put an extra burden on her to buy necessary electronic items such as a refrigerator for her house in this scorching summer.
NBR-private sector partnership crucial to achieve high revenue target: DCCI President
In his initial budget reaction, President of Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) Barrister Md. Sameer Sattar, said that government has increased tax free income limit up to Tk 3.5 lakh, but considering the present inflation situation it should be increased to Tk 5 lakh.
He also suggested the government to withdraw compulsory Tk2000 tax for a TIN holder to avail certain government services. But to fulfill the higher revenue target he said that it is important to implement automation in the taxation system and widening the tax net. He also said that the budget is big indeed and there is a deficit of Tk261,785 crore but in order to implement such a large budget partnership between NBR and the private sector is more important to make it effective.
He hailed the decision of reducing documentation process for corporate companies during tax returns submission. In this budget corporate tax rate has not been reduced. But Barrister Sattar requested again to reduce at least 2.5% for non-listed companies since our corporate tax rate is high in the South Asian region.
Tariff value and VAT at import of 13 petroleum and relevant products have been withdrawn to curb the energy price which will have a positive impact on our economy, he added.
The government will set a target to borrow Tk132,395 crore from the banking sector which will hamper the private sector credit flow, he said. Besides, he suggested to use ADR to realize NPL. He also suggested full automation in the VAT collection system.
He hailed the decision of reducing VAT on ICT and home appliance sector. He stressed on effective, timely and priority-based implementation of ADP. He said we need to focus on import substitute industries and strengthening backward linkage industries to help the local industrialization. He also recommended to reduce gas price to curb the price of fertilizer for the betterment of the agriculture sector.
4 killed in Tangail road crash
Four people including three members of a family including a couple and their child were killed when a bus rammed a battery-run auto-rickshaw at Gangair Goma Bus Stand in Madhupur upazila of Tangail district on Thursday.
The deceased were identified as Mainuddin, 45, Sahera Begum, 35, wife of Mainuddin, Siam, 7, son of Mainuddin and auto-rickshaw driver Farhad Ali, 35 of Dhanbari upazila.
Farhana Afroz Jemy, assistant superintendent of police (Madhupur Circle), said the accident occurred around 3 pm when the Tangail-bound ‘Binimoy Paribahan’ hit the battery-run auto-rickshaw, leaving three people killed on the spot and another injured.
The injured died on the way to the local hospital.
Finance minister unveils the country’s largest ever budget in Parliament
Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal on Thursday placed the proposed national budget for FY2023-24 in Parliament with a deficit of Tk 2,61,785 crore with a focus on making a Smart Bangladesh and annual growth target of 7.5 percent.
In his 252-page budget speech, presented through audio-visual medium, the finance minister hoped to bring down the inflation rate to around 6 percent from the over existing 9 percent, a target economists described as ambitious.
Kamal, presenting his fifth budget in a row, proposed to spend Tk7,61,785 crore, while the total revenue has been estimated at Tk 5 lakh crore – of which 430,000 crore will come through National Board of Revenue and Tk 70,000 crore from other sources. The proposed size of the budget represents 15.2 percent of the GDP. He allocated Tk 4,36,247 crore to operating and other sectors, while Tk 2,63,000 crore to Annual Development Programme (ADP).
The deficit in the proposed budget is estimated at 5.2 percent of GDP, down from 5.5 percent in the outgoing FY2022-23, the finance minister said. The deficit is proposed to be financed from domestic sources of Tk1,55,395 crore, while external sources will bring in Tk1,2490 crore.
The proposed FY2023-24 budget is also the last budget of the current Awami League government before the next general election is held in December this year or in January next year. Keeping the election in mind the finance minister proposed to raise the tax-free individual income tax to Tk3.5 lakh besides withdrawing taxes on several commodities.
He also highlighted the challenges that the government faces in the days ahead.
“Overall, our current challenge is to control inflation, improve the account balance situation and stabilise the foreign exchange rate,” he said.
He also stressed the need for adopting the strategies to deal with “sustainable transition and post-transition realities from the LDCs…”
“In particular tariff rationalisation, domestic resources mobilisation to meet fiscal deficit, withdrawal of subsidy or cash assistance or exploring alternatives.. should be considered now,” he said.
The ruling Awami League hailed the proposed budget as “people friendly” and a document that will help the country come back from crisis ad global economic downturn.
The main opposition BNP denounced it as a “smart budget to plunder the public money.”
Jatiya Party Chairman GM Quader termed the budget impractical and said that the government could use the public money to overcome election hurdles.
Budget is unrealistic, not possible to curb inflation like this: CPD
The think tank Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) in an instant statement on Thursday termed that budget as ambitious and unrealistic.In the context of the ongoing crisis, the macroeconomic projections announced in the budget are illusionary and unattainable.CPD Executive Director Dr Fahmida Khatun said, “It is impossible to curb inflation and bridle the price hike with the measures that have been announced in the budget.”But the imposition of the minimum charge of Tk 2,000 on individuals whose earnings fall below the taxable income to receive 38 services is unwise, Fahmida Khatun said."There was no adequate initiative in the budget to exempt duty from the daily essentials that we import," she added.However, the CPD praised the proposition of increasing the tax-free income limit to Tk 3.5 lakh from the existing Tk 3 lakh for individual taxpayers for the 2023-24 fiscal year.
Tk 1309.86 crore allocation proposed for Youth and Sports Ministry
Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal on Thursday proposed an allocation of Tk 1309.86 crore for the Youth and Sports Ministry in the proposed budget for the fiscal year 2023-24, increasing Tk 28.23 crore then the previous budget.
In the proposed budget, TK 927.38 crore allocated for operating cost and Tk 382.48 crore as development expenses.
The allocation for the fiscal year 2022 23 was Tk 1281.63 crore.
However, the revised budget for the fiscal year 2022-23 was Tk 1634.40 crore with.
In the budget speech at Jatiya Sangsad, Mostafa Kamal said it is necessary to develop the sports sector which is an important means for physical and mental well-being and sound entertainment.
Construction and renovation of various sports infrastructures including modern stadiums, gymnasiums and swimming pools are going on and free sports items are being provided to the sports clubs.
Besides," Upazila Sheikh Russel Mini Stadium Construction Project" has been undertaken. In the first phase of the project the construction of stadiums in 125 Upazilas has been completed.
In the second phase, the construction of stadiums in 186 more Upazilas is underway.
To produce skilled players, we create pool of talented players in various categories through talent hunting. Short and long-term trainings are being provided to the players, sports competitions are organized, sports teams are sent abroad and opportunities are created for participation in international level sports competitions.
The image of the country gets brightened in the world when our players earn success in international competition. The girls of Bangladesh are also participating in various national and international competitions spontaneously and are making their mark.
“We are also paying special attention to the welfare of the players. The Sheikh Kamal National Sports Council Award has been introduced for distinguished sports persons/organizers,” he said.
Monthly allowance and one-time grant and medical assistance are being provided to poor, injured and disabled sports persons every year.