The government has reduced the cash incentive to 4 per cent from 5.25 per cent for apparel products export and 12.50 per cent from 15 per cent for leather goods export for the fiscal year 2015-16.A Bangladesh Bank circular issued on Monday said the government also decreased the additional cash incentive for small and medium industries of the textile sector to 4 per cent for the FY16 from 5 per cent for the FY15.A BB official told New Age on Monday that the export-oriented local textile sector enjoyed the cash incentive as an alternative to duty bonds and duty drawbacks.The government, however, kept unchanged the cash incentive of 3 per cent for this financial year for export of new textile products and expanding export of textile items to new markets other than US, Canada and European Union.Former interim government finance adviser Mirza Azizul Islam told New Age on Monday that the country’s RMG, textile and leather goods were now matured industrial sectors.He said the lower cash incentives for the sectors would not put any adverse impact on the country’s exports earnings.There is no need to provide any cash incentive to the two sectors, he said.He said, ‘The demand from the external or foreign markets is the main issue in increasing the export volume of the two sectors.’Exporters’ Association of Bangladesh president Abdus Salam Murshedy told New Age that the country’s textile sector had been facing crisis for long due to political unrest and uncertainty.He said, ‘Our competitor countries are now increasing the global market volume while we are lagging behind in the competition.’The government’s initiative to decrease the cash incentives will bring negative impact to the RMG sector and as a consequence the export target of the sector will decline in this financial year, he said.The government also decreased the cash incentive for bone dust export to 5 per cent for the FY16 from 15 per cent for the FY15, according to the BB circular.The exporters of shrimp earlier received 10 per cent cash incentive against their exports, but the government has declared four types of cash incentives for the exporters for this financial year.The exporters of shrimp will get 10 per cent cash incentive if their products are covered with ice of up to 20 per cent of the total weight.The exporters will get 9 per cent cash incentive against their products which are covered with ice of 20 per cent to 30 per cent of the weight, 8 per cent cash incentive for ice cover of 30 per cent to 40 per cent and 7 per cent cash incentive for ice cover of 40 per cent and above.The government has also declared separate cash incentive for export of frozen fish for the FY16.The exporters of frozen fish will get 5 per cent cash incentive against their products with the maximum 5 per cent ice cover, 4 per cent cash incentive for ice cover of 20 per cent to 30 per cent, 3 per cent cash incentive for ice cover of 30 per cent to 40 per cent and 2 per cent cash incentive for ice cover of 40 per cent and above.The government earlier provided 10 per cent cash incentive for exports of diversified and finished jute goods, but now the exporters will be allowed to receive 7.50 per cent cash incentive for finished goods.The exporters of diversified jute goods will receive 10 per cent cash incentive for the FY16.The government decreased the cash incentive for jute spin to 5 per cent for the FY16 from 7.50 per cent for the FY15.The light engineering sector will get 15 per cent cash incentive for this financial year from 10 per cent for the FY15.The exporters of handmade products from hogla, hay and sugarcane fibre will continue to receive 15 to 20 per cent cash incentive while agro products (vegetables and fruits) and agro-processing products will get 20 per cent cash incentive.The exporters of halal meat and potato will continue to receive 20 per cent incentive while the ship exporters will get 5 per cent cash incentive.Pet bottle-flex and potato exporters will continue to receive 10 per cent and 20 per cent incentives respectively.
