The New Nation - Internet Edition

Chittagong Correspondent

Chairman of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) Mohammad Abdul Majid yesterday said that this year's budget has been prepared in the light of proposals from professional bodies and business forums.

He called upon all including the entrepreneurs for meaningful implementation of the budget.

The NBR Chairman was addressing a post-budget discussion with the leaders of Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) at its auditorium yesterday.

President of Chittagong Chamber Saifuzzaman Chowdhury presided over the discussion while Vice President Mahbub Alam delivered the welcome speech.

"We must work together with utmost sincerity for reducing dependence on foreign loan which is given to us at high rate of interest and stiff terms," he said.

The NBR Chairman informed that the Government has actively been working on the mechanism to ensure transparency of the foreign Pre-shipment inspection companies.

He told the meeting that the foreign pre-shipment inspection (PSI) companies have been operating without supervision and selling false or half-true Clean Finding Reports (CFR) to the importers and exporters.

He noted that it is a difficult task to formulate budget in a developing country like ours accommodating the interests of all groups.

Recalling experience of 22-day pre-budget discussions, the NBR Chairman said, "We worked hard to design a people-friendly budget and we discussed with the representatives of different sectors all over the country before formal announcement of the budget."

He further said that the government is sincere enough to coordinate the policies and structures related to VAT (value added tax), income, tax and other issues.

He thanked the business leaders as the bulk of revenue had been earned from the Chittagong region in the last fiscal.

The Chamber President in his speech demanded reduction of import duty and called for fixing it at five percent.