DCCI happy but proposes corporate tax cut; raising tax-free income
Dhaka: Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) President Abul Kasem Khan on Thursday termed the proposed budget 'business friendly' but said implementation of such a large budget will be a challenge for the government.
He expressed his hope that the government will reconsider to reduce corporate tax, tax for publicly traded company and increase the tax-free income limit for individual.
Regarding government borrowing from banks, Abul Kasem said there is no liquidity crisis in the bank and the government's borrowing from banks will not have a negative impact on private sector credit flow. "Rather, we've to reduce non-performing loans," he said in their initial reaction to the proposed budget.
The DCCI President said increased allocation in infrastructure will boost the investment climate.
He said the government has initiated to establish 10 SEZs which is good but the government needs to ensure all the utility facilities as a fast track basis.
The DCCI chief suggested that 5-6 percent of GDP should be invested for infrastructure development.
Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) has set a target to improve country's position in ease of doing business by positioning it below 100 in global ease of doing business index by the next five year which needs also a yearly target.
The DCCI says it supports government's target to increase investment to GDP ratio to 31.09 percent.
However, SEZs are critical to this to achieve and other impediments must be removed to faster growth of private investment.
Abul Kasem said under the project monitoring pool government can implement DCCI's concept of National Infrastructure Development Monitoring Advisory Authority (NIDMAA).