DCCI urges government
The Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Wednesday urged the government to take measures to restore investment-friendly environment for domestic and foreign investors in the country. The newly-elected president of the DCCI, Hossain Khaled, along with its board members made the request at a media meet held at the trade body’s office in the capital. Khaled said, ‘Foreign investors for the last couple of years were refraining from making fresh investment in Bangladesh due to repeated change in policy, lack of long-term policy, political instability, bureaucratic complicacy, inadequate electricity and infrastructure for industrialisation.’
He said, ‘Despite repeated
militant attacks in Pakistan, the country has achieved $7 billion
foreign direct investment, while we are lagging far behind with $1 billion FDI.’
Frequent change in the policy framework and lack of long-term policy were the main reasons for the foreign investors’ low attraction to the country, he said.
‘Although we achieved around 6 per cent growth in the previous year, but the political violence in the year cut at least 2 per cent growth of the country in the year,’ the DCCI president said.
Anticipating a rise in taxes on businesses due to the government’s move to increase the government employees’ salaries, Khaled called on the government not to increase tax rate on businesspeople rather to increase tax net to meet the extra fund requirement.
Opposing the new Vat Act 2012, he also said that imposing taxes on the retail level would affect the small and medium entrepreneurs, so the government should amend the act.
At the briefing, the trade body made a set of 23 suggestions.
It requested the government to give power connection to new industries as the industries are suffering from losses and becoming bank loan defaulters.
High interest rate (around 18 per cent) of bank loans for corporate and that (25-30 per cent) for the small and medium enterprise loans have became barrier to making fresh investment and that has resulted in huge amount of idle money in banks, the DCCI said.
Reducing interest rate to a single-digit will attract local and foreign investors to get loans from banks and boost industrialisation, the chamber said.
The trade body, as part of its plan to boost economic development and policy advocacy with the government, also presented its plans for the year 2015.
DCCI senior vice-president Humayun Rashid, vice-president Md Shoaib Choudhury, directors Md Sabur Khan, AKD Khair Mohammad Khan, Abdus Salam, Asif A Chowdhury, Hossain Akhtar, K Atique –E- Rabbani, Osman Gani and S Rumi Saifullah were also present on the occasion.
-With New Age input
