TIB for withdrawing import duty on gold, forming policy

MA Rahman Masum: Transparency International, Bangladesh (TIB) has urged the government to withdraw import duty on gold as a measure to prevent gold smuggling and called for forming a comprehensive business policy to boost gold trade.

TIB revealed a research report in this regard recently.

“The government virtually does not have any control over gold trade. The gold sector in the country suffers from lack of accountability, documentation is dependent on smuggling. Huge irregularities and corruption also exist in various stages of the sector,” TIB Director Research and Policy Mohammad Rafiqul Hassan said while presenting the findings of the study.

Dr. Iftekharuzzaman, executive director of the TIB, said the daily trading of gold was worth Tk 25 crore and a large portion of it was coming from smuggling. Even though customs intelligence has been actively working against gold smuggling, exemplary punishment against the smugglers was very rare, he added.

He also put emphasis on the need to form a comprehensive policy for the gold sector.

In its study, the TIB made about 90 recommendations on 15 areas of the gold business.

Based on its research, the TIB has given a draft policy to the government. It expressed optimism that a comprehensive policy would be made through discussions with the bodies concerned.

According to the TIB study, gold smuggling has been going on with the help of some unscrupulous members of law enforcement agencies, government officials, land port and airport officials and gold traders. “We have documents about the involvement of some government employees. But, we’ve no information about how many persons are involved in illegal practices in this sector,” the TIB executive director told reporters.

The current scenario has emerged due to the lack of any gold business and import policy, he said.

The study has revealed that there is no specific data on the available demand and supply of gold in the country.

However, the demand for gold is 20–40 tonnes every year as per the estimates of the bodies concerned.

The report noted that reduction of duty and framing of a proper policy will encourage gold imports through legal channels—this will facilitate a good environment for gold trading in the country. A total of 1,675kg of gold has been seized in the past four years. The government is losing Tk 487–974 crore a year for not importing gold through legal channels.

risingbd/Dhaka/Nov 27, 2017/MA Rahman/AI