Jagaran Chakma

Sales of motorcycles, particularly low-end ones, were disappointing ahead of the upcoming Eid-ul-Azha as the ongoing inflationary pressure has limited peoples’ purchasing power, according to market players.

The disappointment among rubber growers in Bangladesh is mounting as prices of latex and rubber sheet are declining despite being import substitutes for key materials used in various industries.

Bashundhara Group, one of the conglomerates in Bangladesh, will start offering toiletries and personal care products in order to have a share of the growing market for the consumer goods. 

Refrigerator and chest freezer sales are seeing steady growth in the lead up to this year’s Eid-ul-Azha as demand has soared thanks to the stable prices and various discounts on offer, according to market players.

The shipment of synthetic footwear and sports shoes from Bangladesh grew 6.21 per cent year-on-year in July-May of the outgoing fiscal year thanks to shifting orders from China and the expanding capacity of manufacturers. 

The proposed budget has provided relief to pharmaceuticals manufacturers and patients as it retained duty-free import benefits for over 100 raw materials used in making life saving cancer, heart disease and diabetes drugs. 

Premier Cement Managing Director Mohammed Amirul Haque says

The proposed national budget for the next fiscal year does not address the interests of electrical equipment makers, which goes against the government’s aim of establishing Bangladesh as an industry-intensive nation, said an official.

Flats and houses will become expensive as the government has increased the duties on basic construction materials such as cement, steel and tiles in the proposed budget, said a top executive of a real estate company.  

The shipment of electrical and electronics goods from Bangladesh displayed an impressive growth of 48 per cent in July-May of the outgoing financial year on the back of improving product quality and government support, official figures showed.

Oil refiners in Bangladesh have welcomed the government’s specific duty proposed in the budget for the next fiscal year on the imports of crude oil.

The textile and garment sector, which earns the lion’s share of export proceeds, has been left neglected in the proposed budget, according to Shams Mahmud, a former president of the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The extension of existing benefits for local consumer electronics industries through the proposed national budget is very encouraging, said Golam Murshed, managing director and chief executive officer of Walton Hi-Tech Industries, yesterday. 

The exports of leather footwear from Bangladesh declined 4.28 per cent year-on-year in July-May of the ongoing financial year owing to lower orders from Europe, the main market, official figures showed. 

Bangladesh has made the first payment for a mostly foreign loan-funded project in the taka, ushering in another mode of better preserving foreign currency reserves.

The price of steel products is unlikely to decline in the coming days from its current record level as the budget for the upcoming fiscal year has not offered any benefit to the sector, said a top executive.

The increase of duty on the import of cement clinker by Tk 200 per tonne will have an adverse impact on the cost of production and put a burden on consumers, said Mohammad Iqbal Chowdhury, chief executive officer of LafargeHolcim Bangladesh Limited.

State-owned enterprises (SOEs) in Bangladesh will likely incur collective losses of Tk 14,703 crore in the coming fiscal year, according to the finance ministry.

Manufacturers of cancer medicines will be able to sell the lifesaving drugs at reasonable prices after the National Board of Revenue (NBR) extended duty-free import benefits to 100 more raw materials used to make such products.

The proposed budget for 2023-24 is unrealistic and unattainable as the challenges that caused the economic growth to decelerate, foreign exchange reserves to dip and inflation to surge in the past one year still persist, said economists and think-tanks.