Govt releases Tk 10b in cash incentives for exporters

The government has released Tk 10 billion as the first instalment of cash incentives for the exporters in the current fiscal year (FY), sources said.

The Ministry of Finance recently issued an order to this effect.

Following the order, the Office of the Controller General of Accounts has issued a debit authority in favor of the central bank.

Like previously, there remain some specific conditions on the disbursement of the export incentive. Such cash support must be disbursed among the eligible exporters through designated banks.

Besides, the banks concerned are not entitled to utilise the fund for any other purposes, according to a source, according to the order.

The ministry in its previous order warned that legal action would be taken against banks or exporters to be found non-compliant with the existing rules and provisions.

The Bangladesh Bank (BB) will provide the incentive to the respective banks as per their requirements for disbursing the same among the eligible exporters.

Certain export-oriented sectors such as ready-made garment, frozen shrimp and other fish, leather items, jute and jute products are now entitled to get such incentives.

To encourage the country's export trade, the government had earlier decided to continue providing export incentives for 43 sectors from July 1 to December 31 in the FY 2025-26.

According to a BB circular, the rates of export incentives or cash support for different categories of exportable goods will range between 0.30 percent and 10 percent from July 1 to December 31.

The circular also revealed that the government would continue to provide such incentives for the first six months of the current fiscal year.

Earlier, some 43 exporting sectors availed such facility for the entire fiscal year 2024-25 (July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025).

According to the circular, the highest 10 per cent rate of cash incentives has been fixed for exports of vegetables, fruits, and processed agricultural produce, diversified jute products, cent-percent 'halal' meat and halal meat products, accumulator batteries, leather products, potato peels, and light- engineering products.

The interim government has allocated Tk 891.62 billion for the payment of subsidies and incentives for FY 2025-26.