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MANNAN-DCCI-WEBINAR
Mannan for public-private joint efforts to face COVID-19 situation
DHAKA, July 11, 2020 (BSS) – Planning Minister MA Mannan today urged the private sector entrepreneurs to seize the opportunity of boosting export and expanding trade in the medical and textile sectors in the wake of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
He made the call while addressing as the chief guest a webinar on “Bi-annual Economic State & Future Stance of Bangladesh Economy: Private Sector Perspective”, organized by the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI).
DCCI President Shams Mahmud presented a key-note paper at the webinar.
Terming the new budget as more ‘business friendly’ compared to those in the past, Mannan said the budget has increased a lot of facilities, including reduction of the corporate tax rate alongside facilities for individual taxpayers. “You’ll get much more facilities in the coming days,” he added.
He also underscored the need for joint endeavors by the public and private sectors to face the COVID-19 situation.
The Planning Minister said the private sector is taking the lead role in many countries to develop infrastructures. “We’ll also have to go to that direction,” he added.
He urged the private sector entrepreneurs to come up with bigger investments for the country’s power, communication, medical and other infrastructural development.
Stressing the need for enhancing the use of technology, Mannan said much more digitalization is now the demand of time in the banking sector.
He said Bangladesh would need to attain observer status to boost its trade among the ASEAN countries side by side it needs to boost its trade and commerce with the neighboring countries.
The planning minister urged all to remain alert so that the image of the country is not tainted due to the unholy work of anyone.
“Not only the government, the private sector will also have to be much more attentive,” he added.
DCCI President Shams Mahmud said that more focus needs to be given on sourcing funds from external sources reducing dependency on bank borrowing to mitigate the budget deficit.
He also suggested reducing source tax for export oriented sectors to 0.25 percent, saying that the agriculture and agro-processing industries need to be supported and keep functional with strong local-supply chain system to ensure low-cost food security.
Due to COVID-19 impact, Shams said private investment is projected to come down to 12.72 percent in FY2019-20 compared to 23.54 percent in FY2018-19.
FDI inflow in Bangladesh fell to USD2.87 billion in 2019 compared to USD3.6 billion in 2018. In that context, in order to seize the opportunity of investment relocation from China, Bangladesh needs to frame sector specific investment road-map with strategic action plan while corporate tax needs to be rationalized.
Due to COVID-19 outbreak, both demand and supply side weakened the international trade of Bangladesh. In FY2019-20, total export was USD33.67 billion which was 25.99 percent less than the export target and 16.93 percent less than FY2018-19.
In order to boost international trade, the DCCI President emphasized on restoring GSP facility in the USA, eliminating non-tariff barriers with partners through strong diplomatic initiatives, FTA and PTA with potential partners.
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