Bangladesh offers duty benefit to 43 types of Bhutanese goods

The customs authority has withdrawn import duties on 43 types of Bhutanese goods to give them better market access to Bangladesh, according to a notification issued by the National Board of Revenue (NBR) recently.

The NBR move comes nearly two years after Bangladesh signed a preferential trade agreement (PTA) with Bhutan to increase trade between the two nations.

As per the notification, Bhutan's 43 types of exported goods, which includes milk, natural honey, wheat flour, jams, fruits, jellies, cement clinkers, portland cement, particle board wood, ferro-silicon, rod and wooden furniture, will not face customs duty, supplementary duty and regulatory duty during entry to Bangladesh.

Importers, however, will have to pay value-added tax and other taxes.

Goods, on which supplementary duty is applied at the domestic stage, will, however, face equal amount of the SD during imports from Bhutan, said a senior official of the NBR.

The benefit becomes effective immediately, according to the tax administrator.

Under the agreement, Bangladesh has been enjoying duty benefit on export of 90 local products since July 1 this year. Bhutan was also supposed to benefit from the same time, but the revenue authority could not complete all the procedures.