Bangladesh Garments Manufacturers and Exporter Association (BGMEA) has demanded extension of the time for bond facilities and release of cash incentives for the apparel sector in the upcoming budget. The BGMEA demand was raised on May 14 when a delegation led by its president Anwar-ul-Alam Chwodhury Parvez called on Finance Adviser Mirza Azizul Islam at his office and submitted a 13-point demand to him.

The demands include tax holiday for the RMG sector, allocation of land for a fashion institute, establishment of a garments industrial park and rehabilitations of sick industries. “The government would release Tk 120 crore cash incentives for the garments sector in the next budget,” the finance adviser told journalists after the meeting. “I have heard the demands and understood their arguments. I hope these would be reflected in the next budget,” the adviser said. The BGMEA president said, “We have sought policy supports from the government which would help the sector grow rapidly.” Pointing to the fact that Tk 262 crore cash incentives remained pending, he said, “We need financial assistance for rehabilitation of 270 sick garment factories, which had been sorted out from a total of 1400 sick factories earlier”. Besides, the bonding period should be extended to 24 months instead of existing 15 months, Parvez said. The other members of the BGMEA delegation were vice presidents A B M Shamsuddin, Foisal Samad and Ferdous Parvez.

During the hour-long discussion, the BGMEA delegation also demanded waiver of conditions for continuous bond in case of knit, sweater and woven industries. They also talked to the adviser regarding income tax measures, payment of advance tax and exemption of tax on dividend.