Sohel Parvez

Potato shipments have rebounded to an extent as revenue from the sector nearly doubled in the just-concluded fiscal year thanks to exporters’ efforts to exploit the gap in the international market created by reduced supply from China and Pakistan following lower crop production due to the coronavirus fallout.

The National Board of Revenue yesterday rolled out the electronic payment of value-added tax, taking a much-delayed big step forward to fully automating a system that would enable businesses to comply at reduced time and cost.

It has been two months since shops have been keeping their doors open to greet shoppers and register some sales.

Electronic invoices would now be accepted as acknowledgement receipts for value-added tax payment to the treasury, as the National Board of Revenue edges closer to ensuring online payment of the indirect tax, the biggest source of revenue for the state.

The government yesterday approved a Tk 3,020 crore project -- the biggest ever scheme for farm sector -- to provide price support to farmers in purchasing agricultural machinery.

The wait for workers of four sectors, including private jute mills and tea gardens, for new wages has gotten longer as the fixation of their minimum wages was halted following the authorities’ unwillingness to join physical meetings amid the pandemic.

Bangladesh’s rice imports fell to a nearly 40-year low in the fiscal year 2019-20 thanks to farmers’ endeavour to increase the yields of the main crop and allow the nation to be self-sufficient in the cereal production.

The much-cherished Sonali Bag scheme, which aims to make polymer containers from jute, will continue despite the closure of 25 state-run jute and non-jute mills on the first day of the current month.

Private millers are looking to utilise much of their capacity to increase the production of jute goods to cash in on the void created in the domestic and international markets for the closure of all the 22 state-run jute mills.

Diamond World has made history as the leading jewellery house has become the first company from Bangladesh to import gold bars through a legal channel to cater for both local and foreign markets.

Farmers are set to start harvesting jute by the end of this month and for the first time since Bangladesh’s independence, none of the natural fibre will be bought by the world’s largest state-owned jute goods maker and exporter, the Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation (BJMC).

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With the Covid-19 pandemic wrecking lives and livelihoods, the government has renewed its focus and stepped up thrust on boosting production of Aus and Aman rice to ensure adequate availability of staple food in the country and slash dependence on the global market.

The VAT Intelligence yesterday withdrew its directive that had asked banks to provide information on discrepancies in turnover figures shown by potential borrowers in returns and annual financial statements.

Much has been said about the modernisation and automation of the value-added tax system in Bangladesh over the last decade. Yet, the automation of the VAT administration is halfway, although the project’s tenure is supposed to come to its end this year.

The revenue authority has sought to tax companies’ promotional expenditure exceeding 0.50 per cent of their turnover, an unprecedented move that has left firms flustered.

The revenue authority has withdrawn duty-free import privilege for furnace oil in order to discourage establishment of power plants using the fuel and plug annual revenue losses of Tk 2,000 crore.

Revenue collection fell massively for the second consecutive month in May as incomes and demand for goods and services crashed because of the lengthy shutdown put in place to battle the Covid-19 pandemic.

Businesses are worried that some proposed changes in the value-added tax (VAT) law will increase their costs and discourage them from seeking justice against inflated revenue claims by field officials of the National Board of Revenue (NBR).

In the wake of a sluggish progress in the government’s Boro procurement programme, the food ministry has lifted the ceiling for paddy and wheat purchase from an individual farmer to six tonnes from the previous three tonnes.