State Minister for Finance and Awami League’s Finance and Planning Secretary Wasika Ayesha Khan has commented that there is no alternative to automation to increase revenue.

On Tuesday (April 30) at 10:30 am in the grand ballroom of Amari Dhaka, Gulshan, the Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh (PRI) presented the presentation of 'Bangladesh's Domestic Resource Mobilization: Imperatives and a Roadmap'. She said these things.

The Minister of State for Finance said that currently everyone can submit returns online. Since the informal sector of Bangladesh is very large, tax collection from this sector is important. In this case, the private sector can help us.

Wasika Ayesha Khan said, besides discussing the money market, private and government loans, there is a need to discuss more about the 'capital market'. Everyone needs to work on how to bring more good companies to the market. Then the pressure on the money market will reduce. It is important to increase the capital market, equity market and bond market.

She also said that the current government is working tirelessly to build Smart Bangladesh after the successful implementation of Digital Bangladesh under the groundbreaking leadership of Bangabandhu's daughter Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. The country is now getting returns from the mega projects that have been implemented in the last 15 years under her able management. Due to the management of 'IBAS' (Integrated Budget and Accounting System-IBAS) efficiency of budget implementation has increased.

Earlier, even if the budget was passed, the first quarter of the financial year would pass before the implementation of the budget started. At present, the offices are using the budget from July 1.

The State Minister for Finance also assured that the Finance Ministry will consider the suggestions that have emerged from today's (April 30) discussion program very seriously.

Presided over by Economic adviser to the Prime Minister Dr. Mashiur Rahman, Chairman of the Board of Revenue (NBR) Abu Hena Rahmatul Munim and FBCCI President Mahbubul Alam were present as special guests.

PRI's executive director Ahsan H. Mansoor presented the keynote while the program was moderated by the chairman of PRI Dr. Zaidi Sattar.

Vice Chairman of PRI Dr. Sadiq Ahmed also spoke at the event. MCCI President Kamran T Rahman, CSE Chairman Asif Ibrahim, DCCI President Ashraf Ahmed were panel discussants. 

The High Court has ruled that there will be no further investigations into instances of alleged corruption and irregularities in Islami Bank based on media reports.

An HC bench of Justice Nazrul Islam Talukder and Justice Kazi Ebadul Hossain issued the order at around 11:30am on Tuesday (30 April).

Deputy Attorney General AKM Amin Uddin represented the state while Advocate Khurshid Alam Khan represented the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) during the hearing.

Advocate Ahsanul Karim appeared for S Alam Group, the Chattogram-based conglomerate named in the media reports for being allegedly involved with the money siphoning from Islami Bank.

At the same time, the HC ordered the ACC to investigate the truth of the report on Islami Bank published in one of the leading newspapers of the country.

Following the hearing, Advocate Ahsanul Karim spoke to the media and said, "Reports in Daily Star, Prothom Alo and New Age were false. S Alam group had no connection with it".

Bangladesh has long been trying to diversify its export basket but it has failed to do so.

As a result, Bangladesh cannot come out of the RMG-dependent export industry.

Bangladesh’s latest export policy has identified 18 sectors as the priority sectors and 14 sectors as the emerging sectors.

The export policy promises that exporters will get loans at a reduced interest rate, rebates on income tax, bonded warehouse facilities and support to explore new markets, goods and attract FDI.

Ministry of Commerce has set an export target of $72 billion with 11.52% growth for the fiscal year 2023-24.

Export target for goods has been set at $62 billion while for the service sector, the target was set at $10 billion.

The export target achieved in FY 2022-23 was $64.55 billion, which saw a growth of 5.88%.

In the first nine months of the fiscal year, Bangladesh exported RMG products worth $37,202.63 million – accounting for 85.41%.

Meanwhile, the country exported leather and leather products worth $794.19 million and jute and jute goods worth $659.54 million.

In the fiscal year 2013-14, the country’s exports stood at $30,186.62 million.

Bangladesh exported RMG worth $24,491.88 million – accounting for 81.13%, while leather and leather products worth $745.63 million and jute and jute goods worth $824.49 million.

Jute in jumbles

Creation Private Limited Managing Director Rashedul Karim Munna and also the president of Bangladesh Diversified Jute Products, Manufacturers and Exporters Association, said there is a limitation in terms of getting raw materials for making diversified jute products.

“India has more than 100 types of jute fabrics for making diversified jute products. They can make quality products with the fabrics. On the other hand, Bangladesh has only four to five types of fabrics and it is not that quality fabric,” he added.

“It is the foremost challenge. We are talking about diversified products, but we don’t have such raw materials for making such products,” Rashedul Karim Munna said.

According to him, Bangladesh needs to establish specialised jute mills which will not only make fabric, they will do dying, and lamination facilities so entrepreneurs can make high-quality products.

“Bangladesh’s Jute Diversification Promotion Centre can provide us with product design support, skill development and product development. They can play a role in the local market as well as in the international market for selling our products. The National Jute Board of India does the same thing in India,” Rashedul Karim Munna further said.

“Jute Diversification Promotion Centre cannot do that because the centre still runs with project funds. As a result, the entity cannot do with the limited funds. As a result, Bangladesh is exporting 85% raw jute or yarn abroad or traditional jute goods. It does not need compliance because they are making goods with the raw materials in their factory with the jute,” he added.

Leather lagging behind

Industry people say the main challenge of the leather and leather goods is LGW certificates.

Bangladesh has shifted the tannery from Hazaribag to Savar to save the river Buriganga. However, as the Common Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP) does not work properly, the water waste in the tannery estate is now polluting the river and the environment.

Moreover, the authorities have not yet fixed the solid waste management of the tannery estate.

Diljahan Bhuiyan, senior vice chairman of Bangladesh Finished Leather, Leather Goods and Footwear Exporters Association (BFLLFEA) said at present only China buys the leather from them.

“They buy a product for one dollar 10 cents to one dollar 20 cents. They used to sell the same products for 2 dollars 20 cents 7 years back,” he said.

“Except for China, no one comes to us for leather. They all say that we will need an LWG certificate. To get a LWG certificate, we will first need the CEPT, solid waste management,” said Diljahan Bhuiyan.

Constraints cutting potentials short

According to Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) Senior Research Fellow Towfiqul Islam Khan, all sectors have their own constraints as well as limitations in the framework they operate in.

“Though the RMG sector is a 40-year-old industry, the incentive structure is still biased toward this sector. The most important facility is that the RMG sector gets the bonded warehouse facilities,” he said.

The CPD senior research fellow said RMG entrepreneurs can negotiate at the policy level but the other industry entrepreneurs could not do that.

“Whenever the RMG entrepreneurs faced a challenge, they faced the challenge unitedly. The stakeholders of other sectors could not do the same. As a result, the policy has always been biased toward those who are more influential,” he said.

“The sector-specific issue is that the potential sector has its own constraints. For example, the leather sector has been suffering from compliance issues. The government declared the ‘thrust’ sectors in the export policy. The implementation level is very weak. We need a diplomatic effort for exploring new markets too” Towfiqul Islam Khan further said.

Meanwhile, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in its latest policy brief, released on 30 April, has suggested several recommendations for promoting export diversification in Bangladesh.

“Bangladesh’s protective measures, through high tariffs and para-tariffs, encourage a focus on the domestic market over exports, creating an anti-export bias,” ADB said in its brief titled, "Expanding and Diversifying Exports in Bangladesh: Challenges and the Way Forward."

"Tariff rationalisation is thus critical in dealing with this policy-induced bias. Lowering tariffs can stimulate domestic manufacturing, potentially balancing any revenue loss from reduced import tariffs," it added.

One of the big challenges for the county's jute exporting sector is getting raw materials, said Bangladesh Diversified Jute Products, Manufacturers and Exporters Association President Rashedul Karim Munna.

“There is a limitation in terms of getting raw materials for making diversified jute products in Bangladesh,” he said during an interview with Bangladesh First recently.

“India has more than 100 types of jute fabrics for making diversified jute products. They also can make quality products with the fabrics. On the other hand, Bangladesh has only four to five types of fabrics and the quality of the fabric is not that good,” he added.

Rashedul Karim Munna deemed the lack of raw materials as the foremost challenge for the sector.

“We are talking about diversified jute products, but we don’t have such raw materials for making such products,” he said,

At the same time, he thinks entrepreneurs in Bangladesh need to establish specialised jute mills which will not only make the fabric but will dye and have lamination facilities also so that they can make high-quality products.

“We have a ‘Jute Diversification Promotion Centre’ which is supposed to provide us with design, skill development and product development. The organisation is supposed to play roles in the local market as well as in the international market for selling our products like the National Jute Board in India. However, the organisation still runs on the project fund as a result it cannot meet entrepreneurs’ expectations because of the fund crisis,” he said.

Bangladesh is exporting 85% raw jute or yarn abroad or traditional jute goods, Rashedul Karim Munna said, adding, “It does not need compliance because they are making goods with the raw materials in their factory with the jute. 99% of the traditional jute mills do not have any compliance certificate in Bangladesh.”

Stating that the Indian government has four wings which are involved in product development or raw material development and hold around 20-25 international fairs for market expansion, Rashedul Karim Munna said he thinks the Bangladeshi government should showcase the jute industry abroad.

“Government has some soft loans for funding and Bangladesh Bank implements them. Bangladesh Bank is providing these soft loans to other sectors. The Jute sector is not getting such soft loans. Though jute is an agricultural product, it does not get the soft loan facilities because jute is not enlisted in the list of enterprises eligible for soft loans,” he further said,

Mentioning the 2% source tax on procuring raw jute from farmers, he said the government should waive it for the development of the industry.

“Again, there is a complexity in getting incentives for jute export. Bangladesh Bank will have to revise the existing circular to simplify the process of getting incentives for jute products export,” he added.

Rashedul Karim Munna said the RMG sector has become such a big industry because they have the facilities of the bonded warehouse.

“The government wants the jute and leather sector to get such facilities as the RMG sector has received. However, the NBR officials have a negative attitude that they do not want to provide licenses to new sectors,” he added.