Bangladeshi cement manufacturers have requested that the National Board of Revenue makes payment of BDT7500m (US$88,47m) as a refundable advanced income tax to help them recover some of their losses from the coronavirus pandemic.

Previous attempts to seek similar demands in the national budget were turned down. "We need a fresh injection of capital to recover the losses incurred due to pandemic. We have fallen in capital shortage as well. So, the government should refund our adjustable fund," said Mohammed Amirul Haque, managing director of Premier Cement.

More recently, the Bangladesh Cement Manufacturer’s Association (BCMA) sough a 60 per cent cut in import duties for clinker, the withdrawal of non-adjustable advance income tax and the return of previously paid refundable advanced income tax.

"We import clinker at US$38/t to US$42/t but when we go to pay the duty, the customs always assume the price to be US$50/t, which is so unfair," BCMA President, Md Alamgir Kabir, told the NBR.

Bangladesh cement manufacturers collectively spent about US$1.3bn in fiscal 2019-20 on importing various production materials such as clinker, fly ash, iron slag, limestone, and gypsum. The total amount of clinker imports alone accounted for US$900m.