Bangladesh News

Newspaper Owners’ Association of Bangladesh (Noab) has urged the government to increase its advertisement budget commensurate with the recent increase in advertisement rate.

Noab, at its general meeting on Thursday, noted with concern that although advertisement rate was increased recently in the wake of Wage Board Award, there was no indication yet of a corresponding increase in the rate of government advertisements and that of autonomous bodies, according to a press release issued yesterday.

It also expressed apprehension that unless advertisement budget was increased the volume of advertisement and the number of insertions would decline from the current level. This would create financial burden for most newspapers, which are already facing huge problems due to sharp increase in production cost.

Noab members noted with concern that the guidelines laid down for release of advertisement under the new public procurement regulation (PPR) would encourage corruption.

The meeting drew attention of the government to this aspect of PPR and requested it to take suitable corrective measures in this regard.

The meeting also reiterated its earlier demand to arrange payment of advertisement bills of autonomous bodies like LGED. Water Development Board, etc. from their respective head offices instead of the present decentralised system, which is cumbersome and enmeshed in corruption.

Noab took exception to the new condition attached to the duty-free import of newsprint and demanded its immediate withdrawal.

It also pointed out that the system of issuing no-objection certificate by the Ministry of Information for each consignment is unnecessary and too bureaucratic.

Noab felt that instead of consignment based certificate, a one-time certificate should be issued on annual basis. This will help newspapers to import newsprint at their convenience depending on market condition.