Duty exemption on imported goods declined

Al Amin :
Duty exemption on import of goods has declined by Tk 7000 crore year-on-year in the first six months (July-December) period of the current fiscal year (2023-24).

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) reduced the tax exemption on importing goods aligned with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan condition, officials of the revenue board said.

They further said the NBR is reducing exemptions on imports and exports as part of the country’s transition from low-income countries to middle-income countries.
Economists, however, said although the exemption has declined in the first half, it will increase at the end of the fiscal year.

According to a data of the NBR, the government agency gave Tk24,593 crores duty exemption by issuing different notifications and Statutory Regulatory Order (SRO) during the time, which was Tk31,560 crore in the same period of the previous fiscal year (2022-23).

Businesses got duty exemption of Tk61,032 crore in FY2022-23 on the ground of reducing prices of products and goods in the domestic market.

But, the traders actually sold their goods, which have duty exemption, at a higher price in the domestic market and made a hefty profit.

Such duty exemption failed to reduce prices due to the lack of market monitoring system and syndication of business of different essential commodities, experts said.

A large portion of duty exemption has been given in the import of capital machinery as the revenue board gave Tk4,315 crore for the sector during the time, which was Tk5,224 crore in the same period of the last fiscal year.

Followed by Rooppur Nuclear power plant as the government agency gave Tk 3,061 crore duty exemption for it during the time, the figure was Tk1,890 crore in the same period of last year, according to the data.

Besides, the revenue board gave a special duty exemption worth Tk 1,290 crore during the time, which was Tk 4,565 crore in the same period of last fiscal year, the data showed.

Dr Ahsan H Mansur, Executive Director of the Policy Research Institute (PRI), told The New Nation, “The duty exemption has declined as imports have decreased in July-December period. I don’t think that the revenue board reduced the duty exemption through any special initiative.”

NBR has set a target of revenue collection worth Tk4.30 lakh crore for the current fiscal year. Of the amount, Tk 1.16 lakh crore is expected to come from the customs wing. In the first half of the current fiscal year, revenue worth Tk 49,068 crore has been collected from the sector.