The Newspaper Owners Association of Bangladesh (NOAB) on Saturday demanded withdrawal of the budgetary proposal for raising import duty on newsprint and urged Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Finance Minister AMA Muhith to take necessary steps in this regard. In a statement it said the finance minister’s proposal to raise import duty on newsprint would increase publication cost of a newspaper by 28 per cent.
Already the cost of newspaper production including printing and transportation has gone up significantly and it would further rise after the implementation of the latest Wage Board Award for the newspaper employees. In such case, no newspaper industry could survive after meeting the enhanced expense of the newsprint import, the NOAB statement said.
“We are really surprised to see that a government which is ‘committed to ensure freedom of press and free flow of information’ can take such a measure. We think after assuring to recognise the newspaper sector as an industry, imposing abnormal import duty on newsprint, a key raw material of the newspaper, is a self-contradictory policy of the government” the statement said.
NOAB said that the finance minister’s argument that an increase of duty was proposed to protect the newspaper industry is unrealistic as out of the 67 newspaper mills only two or three produce newsprint rolls required for newspaper. “Moreover the quality of the newsprint produced by these mills are very poor and not suitable for newspaper publication. Even these mills can not produce the quantity required for the newspaper industry. The paper mills often remain shut but a daily newspaper has to come out everyday” it added.
When the local paper mill industry can not meet the requirement of the newspaper industry in terms of quantity and quality, what is the reason to enhance the import duty on newsprint in the name of protecting that industry?, it questioned.
We also feel that if the local paper mills can produce quality newsprint, the import of newsprint is not required. We have to depend on the imported newsprint as the local paper industry can not fulfil the demand. So unless the local paper mills can produce quality newsprint as required for the taste and demand of the readers, raising import duty on newsprint is not appropriate.
-With The Independent input
