http://nation.ittefaq.com/issues/2009/05/12/news0003.htm
Budget to offer incentives to affected industries
BSS, Dhaka
The forthcoming budget will have special incentive package to protect domestic industries, particularly the SMEs, from the impact of global recession.
Industries Minister Dilip Barua on Monday outlined some of the salient features of the incentive package, which will be part of the next budget and said export oriented industries will find priority to the support package.
Talking to BSS, he said ceramics, pharmaceuticals, plastic, automobiles, ship building and such other export oriented industries will be top on the beneficiaries list.
The industries minister said although the impact of the global economic recession is yet to be visible on the country’s economy, the export oriented industries are already taking some of the heat of the global meltdown.
He said the government is therefore taking protective measures to save domestic industries. He said the country has a large number of small and medium industries and many of them are leading exporters.
The government is serious to protect them from the global impact of recession. Referring to various duty regimes, Dilip Barua said it is not only the cash incentives but also the policy Supports, which the government is actively considering in the incentive package.
As part of it, he said the government is considering to reduce duty on import of industrial raw materials, besides harmonizing the overall duty structure.
The minister said the number one challenge to the country’s industries, especially to export oriented ones, is to sustain global competition. It has to, therefore, produce goods at low cost in one hand and higher quality on the other. The quality aspects need to be ensured to stay in global market.
He said, “Once we have that level, the country’s diplomatic missions abroad may take more coordinated moves to create more market and hold on the existing ones.”
The minister said the next budget would protect domestic salt producers from the imports of cheaper salt.
He said low quality domestic salt will fail to stay in business and producers must switch to production of quality salt. He said steps have already taken to popularize quality salt production with help from BSCIC.
He said at present salt producers produce it in open field without protection from sands and soil. He said the present government is taking steps to modernize the production system.
About closed and loss making public enterprises, he said the past government had the policy of selling them to private operators. But the present government is looking for ways to run those mills and factories to create job opportunities. But it is not an easy task, he said adding it not only demands resolving basic issues but also require huge amount of money to modernize the mills and factories. The government is taking a holistic views about it, he said.
He said Chitagong Chemical Complex will reopen this year. Then initiatives would also be taken to reopen other closed mills and factories to bring them to production.
