The Advisers Committee on Economic Affairs approved the 3yearly ImportExport Policy of Bangladesh on February 5. According to the new policy, importlimit,without Letters of Credit (LC), would be raised to $35,000 from the current limit of $25,000 while readymade garment exporters would also be able to import 0.3 per cent of sample textiles instead of the current limit of 0.2 per cent.

The new measures also include prohibiting the import of condensed sugar, regulations for compulsory tests to assure authorities that formalin has not been used in imported fish, and certification that imported meat from the European Union does not contain madcow virus.

As per the proposed changes, there will be no restriction on importing the 1649 CC secondhand and reconditioned cars, and fiveyear old such vehicles, instead of the current fouryear limit, might be imported. Motorcycles with engine sizes of 150CC can also be imported, while the current limit is125 CC. The limit on sizes of engines of importable reconditioned cars under the new policy will go.

The proposed export policy outlines plans to encourage export by declaring an annual Product of the Year award, and notable women exporters would be awarded with a National Export Trophy or identified as commercially important person (CIP). To increase nontax revenues, increasing importrelated licence and registration fees would also be considered under the proposed policy changes.

The proposed export policy also states that the number of thrust sectors would be raised from five to six, while special development sectors would be reduced to nine from ten. Under the proposed export policy, several measures would be taken to improve Bangladeshi exporters global competitiveness by reducing the cost of doing business through simplifying procedures to release export goods and comprehensively improving the export infrastructure.