State minister for finance MA Mannan on Wednesday said the government should be careful in providing cash incentives to the industries.
‘Outcome of the cash incentives should be assessed thoroughly before awarding it,’ he said during a pre-budget discussion with the International Business Forum of Bangladesh at secretariat.
The government should ensure that the benefit of cash incentive reaches to the people, he added.
Mannan spoke about the cash incentives after the IBFB suggested that the readymade garment owners and the auto rice millers should be given cash incentives in the coming national budget.
At present, the government provides cash incentives for exports of readymade garment, frozen food, jute, leather and agro-based processed foods.
The amount of cash incentives has crossed Tk 2,500 crore annually in recent years.
Mannan agreed with a number of other proposals of the IBFB such as expansion of Value Added Tax and lowering the interest of bank loans.
IBFB’s other proposals include protection of local motor cycle industry, ship building and electric appliance manufacturers to discourage import, giving priority to power and iron sectors, lowering duty on import of oil by small vessels and introduction of special interest rate for agriculture based industries.
-With New Age input
