The country's plastic goods manufacturers have sought a waiver of import duty, VAT and supplementary duty on imported machinery and spare parts for the plastic industry.
To this effect, they suggested including this sector in the Statutory Regulatory Order (SRO) that was issued to ensure such duty facility to different important sectors like BTMA and BGMEA.
Bangladesh Plastic Goods Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BPGMEA) made their suggestion in its budget proposals for fiscal year (FY) 2022-23 to the National Board of Revenue (NBR) on Thursday.
Plastic sector will be able to contribute more to the economy through this facility, they said.
The manufacturers also proposed reducing import duty on basic raw materials.
They suggested reducing the import duty on raw materials of intermediate goods of packaging of pharmaceutical industry, agriculture and foods.
On the other hand, the BPGMEA proposed to impose an increased amount of import duty on imported finished plastic products.
According to data available with the BPGMEA, more than 5,000 small, medium and large manufacturing units are running in Bangladesh. More than one million people are engaged in this sector.
The sector's export earnings increased by 15 per cent in fiscal year (FY) 2020-21. During the period, Bangladesh earned US$ 115.28 million from export of plastic products, which was higher from $100.52 million in FY 2019-20.
