Newspaper owners yesterday requested Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed to waive the existing 15 percent VAT on newsprint in the wake of unusual price hike of printing paper on the international market.
They also requested a fourfold increase in rate for government advertisement as they said the existing rate has not been increased for last 20 years now.
The present rate for government advertisement per column-inch is Tk 208.
An eight-member delegation of Newspaper Owners’ Association of Bangladesh (Noab) and Bangladesh Sangbadpatra Parishad (BSP) called on the chief adviser at his office.
The delegation thanked the chief adviser for waiving import duty on newsprint in 2007-08 following their meeting with him last year.
About waving VAT, Fakhruddin said he would talk to the finance ministry to consider the matter “as a whole as the government wants the newspaper industry to flourish in Bangladesh”.
On raising the rate for government advertisement, he agreed with their demand, saying that he will ask the information ministry to make a report on it in consultation with the finance ministry and he will take action after getting the report.
The Noab and BSP leaders also sought payment of advertisement bills centrally. The chief adviser assured them that he would ask the information ministry to make the payment system uniform.
Noab President Mahbubul Alam, BSP Vice president Golam Sarwar, Noab Vice president Matiur Rahman, Treasurer Matiur Rahman Chowdhury and Noab members AMM Bahauddin, Reazuddin Ahmed, ASM Shahidullah Khan and Altamas Kabir were on the delegation.
Chief Adviser’s Press Secretary Syed Fahim Munaim was also present.
Categories: Bangla, Bangladesh, Bangladesh Economy, Bangladesh News, Daily Bangladesh News, Economy, News
