The Bangladesh Paper Mills Association (BPMA) has demanded that the government lower import duties on raw materials such as chemicals used for producing paper.They have rather demanded increase in the duties on imported papers in the upcoming budget for fiscal year 2019-20.BPMA vice-president Mohammad Yunus placed the demands while presenting their proposal for upcoming fiscal budget before the National Board of Revenue in a pre-budget talk at NBR office in the capital. NBR chairman Md Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan along with other high officials was present in the discussion program. Bangladesh Restaurant Owners’ Association, Bangladesh Association of International Recruting Agencies, Courier Services Association Bangladesh also took part in the discussion.Yunus said that the country was now self-sufficient in paper production and there was no need for imports. “We are now focusing on export and have already shipped paper to 30 countries,” he added.“To boost the industry it is very necessary to decrease duties on chemicals which we use for producing paper. Besides, increasing the duties on imported paper can help our local industries,” he pointed out. “Additionally, some traders are importing finished products under bond facilities and they often abuse the privilege, selling the paper in local markets, which affects local industries as well as cause revenue losses to the government,” he alleged.The BPMA proposal says that the country has now 106 paper mills and they produce 15,00,000 metric tons of paper yearly against a domestic demand for 6,00,000 metric tons.BPMA demanded increasing import duties to 25% on five categories of paper including craft paper, paper board, rolls of shits, tracing and glazed transparent papers to discourage the foreign products. Currently these products had 5% to 10% import duties, BPMA said.They also proposed exemption of import duties or decreasing it to 5% on at least 17 categories of raw materials, majority of which were chemicals. Currently these products have 10 to 15 percent duties.Bangladesh Restaurant Owners’ Association urged the NBR to ensure electronic cash register in all restaurants for fair competition and proper collection of value added tax.
