RECENTLY, at a discussion meeting on the leather sector, speakers demanded proper policy support to the sector. I fully agree with them. The Increasing interest of buyers has opened up an opportunity for footwear and leather industries of Bangladesh. The sector has the potential for becoming the second largest foreign currency earner after ready-made garments. This sector now needs rational, equal, implementable and long-term policy supports from the government to attain the US$5.0-billion export earning target from the sector by 2021. Excessive cost of doing business, infrastructural bottlenecks, exchange rate appreciation, are major problems that are affecting the local leather industry. Effective operations of the Tannery Estate Dhaka (TED) with functional effluent treatment plant, effective functioning of Chittagong Port and Dhaka airport, market diversification, and equal policy supports as given to the country’s RMG sector are vital to achieve the targeted growth of this sector. The leather sector has huge potentials for transformation, generating billions of dollars as additional export earnings. I feel that the benefits, given to the RMG sector, should be equally given to other export-oriented sectors, including leather and leather goods. The EDF ceiling for RMG is $20 million whereas it is $15 million for others, and corporate tax for green RMG units is 9.0 per cent while it is 37 per cent for others. RMG sector enjoys duty-free import of fire and other related safety equipments, but other sectors have to pay 7.0 per cent tax for it. Infrastructural bottlenecks are one of the major problems, affecting the export industries, including the leather sector. Inland transportation, port infrastructure, and trade logistics – in all these areas there are major issues affecting export competitiveness. I hope that the concerned authorities would give due priority to this vital sector.
