The Bangladesh Tariff Commission has recommended specifying the rate of value-addition to different exportable products for providing loan in foreign currency from the Export Development Fund while importing raw materials to produce export items, commerce ministry officials said.The commission also made a proposal to set value-addition rate at 30 per cent for readymade garment products, 20 per cent for other products and 10 per cent for non-traditional products, they said, while talking to New Age on Monday.The BTC also said that the loan should be made available for all exporters instead of only exporters of non-traditional items.According to the current provision, the value-addition rate is set at 20 per cent only for RMG sector.Exporters from other sectors face problems in getting loan in foreign currency from the fund of Bangladesh Bank in absence of specific value-addition rate in the policy.The commission also suggested appointing a body to determine the actual value-addition in line with the value-addition calculation method.A commission committee consisting of representatives from the central bank, Export Promotion Bureau and different associations of exporters prepared a report in this connection.The BTC has already sent a report incorporating a set of recommendations to the commerce ministry for taking next step.Earlier, the Prime Minister’s Office asked the commerce ministry to set the rate of value-addition for being eligible for the loan following the decision of the private sector development policy coordination committee headed by PMO’s principal secretary. The officials said that commerce ministry would soon send the report to the PMO for consideration. According to the committee, the definition of non-traditional goods should be clear to avoid complexities as many exportable items which were once considered as non-traditional are now considered as traditional items. Business Initiative Leading Development chief executive officer Ferdous Ara Begum told New Age that the institution recommended that the private sector development policy coordination committee address the issue to make the process easier for the exporters. Some other sectors including shipbuilding, leather, plastic and bicycle may also get the benefit of the fund but they face problems in availing the fund as the import policy did not say anything about value-addition for the sectors, she said. According to the central bank, exporters from textile, apparel, RMG accessories, leather and footwear, and ceramic ware sectors receive loan from the fund. The commerce ministry officials said non-traditional exporters were not getting loan from the fund. In the last financial year 2014-2015, Bangladesh Bank disbursed $3.55 billion from the fund. Initially, the fund was created in 1988 with $30 million to promote the export of non-traditional items for importing raw materials for manufacturing the exportable products. Now, the size of the fund has been increased to $2 billion. The repayment tenure of the loan with interest at London Inter Bank Offer Rate plus 2.5 per cent is 180 days while the central bank can increase the deadline up to 270 days considering the necessity.
