Hacked  By  r4dBlack

DHAKA: The parliament on Thursday passed the national budget worth Tk 1,13,819 crore for fiscal year 2009-10 by approving the Bill of Appropriations 2010, amid abstention of the main opposition led by Bangladesh National Party.
The finance minister, AMA Muhith, who placed the fiscal measures on June 11, initiated the Bill of Appro-priations in the parliament which was passed by voice vote after a brief discussion.
Several hundred cut motions that appeared in the order of the day were not moved in the House as opposition BNP members were absent.
However, independent lawmaker, Mohammad Fazlul Azim of Noakhali-6, proposed cut motions on the ministries of home, land, water resources and power division, but those were rejected by voice vote.
Azim expressed concern over deterioration of law and order and the recent outbreak of violence in the garment factories at Ashulia in the outskirt of Dhaka. He alleged that crime and lawlessness increased with the new government coming to power.
Responding to the lone independent lawmaker, the finance minister also expressed concern over the current unrest in the garment sector. He apprehended that some quarters tried to create anarchy as they could not tolerate the success of Bangladesh’s apparel sector. Muhith, however, did not elaborate his statement.
Parliament on the day passed the Appropriation Bill 2009 approving the demands for grants and appropriation of Tk 1899.60 billion for different ministries and bodies for the next financial year ending June 30, 2010.
In all 49 demands for grants were passed in the House through voice vote after those were placed by ministers and state-ministers concerned. Nearly 200 lawmakers took part in the general budget discussion in more than 45 hours over 18 days.
On Monday, the proposed Finance Bill 2009 was passed with some major changes in the much talked about money whitening provision and duty cuts on some necessary imported products.
Under the changes, undisclosed money will be allowed to be whitened from July, 2009 to June 2010 in stead of 2012, but the investment time and other relevant information like employment projection should be mentioned before investment. The source of money should also be mentioned.
The undisclosed money holders who would propose to invest their money must comply with the projection to avert cancellation of the amnesty.
Undisclosed money would also enjoy the amnesty in the money market for one year from July 2009 with a lock-in period of two years. In case of allowing undisclosed money for purchasing flats and homes, the amnesty will be applicable only for once to buy one flat or one house.
The tax-free investment limit for an individual has been extended up to Tk 10,00,000 from the existing ceiling of Tk 500,000.
The supplementary duty on car imports has been reduced to 30 per cent in case of cars ranging from 1,000 cc to 1,500 cc while the duty on vehicles more than 4,000 cc has been increased to 500 percent.
The SD on import of microbus below 1,800 cc has been cut down to 20 per cent from 30 per cent and for those from 1,801 to 2,000 cc reduced to 60 per cent from 100 percent. The bill allowed duty-free import of “hybrid” motor vehicles up to 2,000 cc.
Import duty on motorcycles was lowered to 20 per cent from the proposed 30 per cent.
Moreover, the import duty on mobile phones has been reduced to a flat 12 per cent from 25 per cent irrespective of their cost. The finance minister exempted income tax on buying laptops up to Tk 100,000 and desktop computer up to Tk 50,000.
The import duty on newsprint has been reduced to 3 per cent from the proposed 5 per cent. Import duty on industrial salt was reduced to 5 per cent from 15 per cent.
The Finance Bill withdrew Value Added Tax as proposed in the budget on aluminum, bidi, unani, herbal and ayurvedic drugs, glass sheets, furniture, biscuits made by machine, manpower export, solar energy panels and furnace oil.
VAT on bulk import of powdered milk was fixed at 2.5 per cent. The VAT on cigarette increased to 28 per cent from the proposed 23 per cent.