BB, NBR urged to facilitate import of six Ramadan commodities

The commerce ministry today urged Bangladesh Bank and the National Board of Revenue (NBR) to ensure availability of US dollar in banks so that businesses can import six commodities, which will be essential during Ramadan.

The ministry has sent two separate letters to the banking regulator and the tax administrator to help increase the supply of the six commodities: onions, edible oil, sugar, lentils, chickpeas and dates.

Moreover, the ministry suggested the central bank governor instruct the commercial banks to lower the margin requirement in opening of the letters of credit (LCs) to ease import of the six widely-consumed items during the Ramadan.

Currently, in some cases, the businessmen have to deposit even 100 percent as margin for importing the essential commodities, which also affect their prices in the local markets.

Senior Commerce Secretary Tapan Kanti, however, said this time he did not ask the banking watchdog to set aside US dollar for the essential commodity importers like last year.

"I only asked the central bank to prioritise the availability of dollar in the banking system to facilitate the import of the six consumer items," Ghosh told The Daily Star.

In a separate letter sent to the NBR, the secretary asked the tax authority to reduce the date import duty as the demand of this item rises almost 50 percent during the holy month for Muslims.

Currently, the local businesses have to pay 58.6 percent duty on import of dates. The monthly demand for dates in the country is 4,000 tonnes and during the Ramadan it goes as high as 50,000 tonnes, according to data from the commerce ministry.

The businessmen in a meeting with Ghosh Wednesday demanded a cut in date import duty.

Ghosh also urged the NBR to release the imported basic commodities from the Chattogram port on a priority basis to ensure their availability in the markets on time.