Bangladesh
In order to meet
the demand of the non-cotton fashion industry, the textile mill owners in Bangladesh
have demanded a withdrawal of value added tax (VAT) and import duty on all
kinds of manmade fibres (MMF).
According to the
textile millers, it is important for the government to accept the request as
the demand for manmade fibre is higher than cotton made fibre globally.
According to
Mohammad Ali Khokon, President, BTMA, if the country wants to increase its
global market share, then manmade fibre should be chosen, as the demand for the
garment made the manmade fibre is rising. He also demanded the government to
fix Tk 3 as VAT on sales per kg of all kinds of yarn available. The current
rate of tax that NBR collects is Tk 3 as VAT on the sales per kilogram of yarn
made from cotton and Tk 6 per kg on the sales of yarn made from manmade fibre.
He said that this rate should be uniform for all kinds of yarn.
This proposed
budget was welcomed by the BTMA chief but he thinks that there should be more
facilities for the textile sector to attract more investment and to generate
employment.
Manmade fibre
occupies 78% of the global fashion industry. In Bangladesh this scenario is reversed. Here, 74%
of the total garment export is done from cotton fibre.
Source – The Daily Star
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