Refayet Ullah Mirdha

The parliament yesterday passed the finance bill for fiscal 2021-22 without addressing calls for reassessing some vital tax issues, including easing the burden on small incomes amidst rising prices of essentials and additional costs to maintain hygiene.

Garment factory owners have expressed their intention to keep running their industrial units during the upcoming lockdown, while union leaders are divided on the issues of ensuring workers’ safety and livelihoods.

Bangladesh’s primary textile sector is undergoing rapid changes with local millers taking to producing significant amounts of manmade fibres alongside cotton fibres to meet rising global demand.

They were the hardest hit segment when the whole economy came to a halt because of the countrywide pandemic-induced lockdown.

Bangladesh has joined two other countries to lead the global cotton trade recovery as the demand for the commodity has risen sharply thanks to buoyant apparel shipments, according to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Local garment exporters are feeling the pinch of a sudden unusual rise in yarn prices in the local and international markets, a development that is threatening to derail the recovery of the apparel shipment from the pandemic-induced slowdown.

Bangladesh needs to bring in further progress to the business regulatory environment in order to retain and attract foreign investors, said the top leader of the trade body of global firms operating in the country.

A fresh stimulus package of at least Tk 20,000 crore is needed specifically for the survival and revival of cottage and micro enterprises (CMEs) as those are most vulnerable to the Covid-19 fallout, said Md Jashim Uddin, president of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI).

The budget has not proposed any direct cash support to revive the cottage, micro, small and medium enterprises (CMSMEs) sector, where millions of workers lost jobs, though the government proposed some short tax-relief measures.

The one-person company (OPC) law is off to a disappointing start as no single entrepreneur has come forward to incorporate firms under the provision although six months have passed since its passage.

The government should implement the current stimulus packages for the cottage, micro, small and medium enterprises (CMSMEs) and announce another round of support in the upcoming budget to help them survive, said experts and entrepreneurs.

Businesspeople have urged the government not to allow any blanket black money whitening opportunity, saying the preferential tax treatment should be extended to the sectors that create jobs and have a positive impact on the economy.

Myanmar’s deepening political crisis and India’s grave coronavirus situation are prompting international retailers and brands to divert work orders to Bangladesh because of its stability and milder-than-expected impacts of the second wave of the infections.

Some 200 garment factories could not pay workers’ salaries and festival bonuses as of yesterday although the Eid-ul-Fitr festival is just knocking at the door, said union leaders.

Naoki: Bangladesh at present and Japan in 1971 share almost the same level of GDP per capita (About $2,000). Japan achieved rapid economic growth after the Second World War, particularly in the 1960s and the 1970s.

Not all garment factories have been able to pay workers’ salaries and festival allowances within the government-set deadline ending yesterday.

Gas heat recovery has become the name of the game for efficiency in the textile and garment industry to remain competitive in business and for a green transformation to save the environment and the next generation.

The election board of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) yesterday declared the names of 78 directors who were elected uncontested.

Production in a number of local chemical, textile and glassware factories is facing setbacks for delays in the shipment of soda ash by Indian exporters over the past four months.

The strong performance of the US economy fuelled by the Biden administration’s relief cheques to the people and the ongoing rapid vaccination holds promises for the recovery of Bangladesh’s garment shipment to its single largest export destination.