Bond facility to be digital next year: NBR member

Finally, the bond management system, which has been run manually for years, will be automated by next year, said Masud Sadiq, member, customs police of the National Board of Revenue (NBR).

“A project is going on in full swing. We will be able to implement automation in bond management from 2023,” Sadiq said while addressing a pre-budget meeting with the Economic Reporters’ Forum (ERF) at NBR headquarters in Dhaka.

He said the NBR is working closely with the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) and the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) to implement the automation of bond management.

The NBR took the bond-automation project in 2017 and it was supposed to be ended by June 2021. The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic that hit the country in March 2020 hampered the works of the project. As a result, the project got extended until June 30, 2023. The cost of the project is Tk 93 crore.

The NBR formed the first Bond Commissionerate in 2000 to provide bonded warehouse facilities to exporters. Later in 2011, Chattogram got a separate Bond Commissionerate.

Under the bonded-warehouse facility, 100 percent export-oriented factories get duty-free import of raw materials. But there are allegations that some unscrupulous exporters abuse the facility by selling raw materials imported at zero duty. That’s why the idea of automation of the bond management came.

According to an NBR official, the government offers around Tk 30,000 crore duty benefit per year through bonded warehouse facilities.