The National Board of Revenue (NBR) yesterday cut import duties on newsprint consumed by the country’s newspaper industry to 5 percent from 10 percent.
The NBR issued a statutory regulatory order bringing down the import duties, which came into effect yesterday.
The move came two months after the government agreed to reduce the duties on the imported newsprint following a tripartite meeting with the owners of the newspapers and leaders of the media community after the Eighth Wage Board was approved.
Following the meeting in September, the cabinet approved the decision and instructed the NBR to implement the decision.
The information ministry also recommended the reduction of the import duties.
Sources at the NBR said the value-added taxes and advance income tax for the newspaper industry would remain the same.
As a result, the newspaper owners will have to pay 26 percent as duties for importing a tonne of newspaper, compared to 31 percent earlier.
The duties on imported printing plates will remain unchanged at 2 percent.
Newsprint is the key raw material for the newspaper printing industry, and the country relies heavily on imports.
While placing the budget for the fiscal 2013-14 in parliament, Finance Minister AMA Muhith had proposed raising the import duty on newsprint to 25 percent from 3 percent.
Following an outcry from the industry, the rate was fixed at 10 percent when the parliament approved the budget.
But industry people still saw the high import duty as a threat for the printing industry.
The government, however, agreed to halve the import duties after newspaper owners accepted the Eighth Wage Board for raising salaries and other benefits for journalists.
The government has also doubled the rates for newspaper advertisements.
Source:- thedailystar.net
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