DCCI President Sameer Sattar has said that they need to take preparations as exporters, including SMEs, will face tariff ranging from 8 per cent to 16 per cent on their exports after 2026.
“We have a very strong SME base in Bangladesh. SMEs contribute 28 per cent to the country’s GDP, 45 per cent manufacturing value addition and account for 90 per cent of the jobs in the private sector,” he said while speaking at a seminar on “Improving export capabilities of SMEs: Succeeding globally upon LDC graduation” organised by Dhaka Chamber of Commerce & Industry (DCCI) on Saturday.
Sameer Sattar also suggested that banks should provide SME-tailored export financing like credit insurance, export development fund, working capital loan to address export related financial challenges.
To facilitate enhancing the export capabilities of the SME sector, he suggested redefining SME definition by excluding ‘medium’ businesses as medium are largely privileged.
Stressing the need for creating a central SME database with updated information, the DCCI president also endorsed foreign investment, easy technology transfer and SEZs development for export-oriented SMEs.
Jatiya Sangsad Speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury who attended the occasion as the chief guest said that SMEs in Bangladesh are resilient enough and contribute more than 30 per cent to the country’s GDP. “Still this sector has various challenges policymakers will try to address these issues to solve the existing problems.”
She also added that despite Covid-19 pandemic and Russia-Ukraine war, Bangladesh has become able to continue its commendable progress securing 6.5 per cent GDP growth.
She invited the SME entrepreneurs to utilize technology for getting access to virtual market. She requested them to use the platform of Joyeeta Foundation to sell their products.
“We can also give them one-stop services so that they can avail all required services from one place and for that we need to take coordinated efforts. Women entrepreneurs can take up to Tk 10 lakh loan collateral free. Policymakers may think about to lessen the customs duty for import of raw materials that needed for SMEs,” she added.
Dr. Selim Raihan, Executive Director, SANEM gave the keynote presentation. He said that Bangladesh’s SMEs face few challenges like capacity constraints, lack of policies and regulatory issues, financing, infrastructure and skills gap.
He also said that import tariff on SMEs in Bangladesh is a bit high. “We need to put emphasis on faster customs and trade regulations.” He also called for conducive and investment friendly tariff regime, consistent tax rates, predictable policy regime and stable macro-economic situation.
“We have to address the high rate of NPLs, weak capital market, high operational cost of SME financing and weak integration with financial system.”
Ambassador of Canada to Bangladesh Dr Lilly Nicholes said that Canada is working with Bangladesh in the technology and vocational sector. “We will sign FTAs with potential trading partners. SMEs face various challenges like access to finance, technical barriers, skills gap.”
She emphasized on more research so that SMEs can add value to their products and enhance their capacity in the export market. Canada is happy to work with Bangladesh in terms of capacity building, research, collaboration and skills development.
Ambassador of Saudi Arabia in Bangladesh Essa Yousef Alduhailan said that Saudi Arabia puts more emphasis on SMEs. Bangladesh has a strong and diversified export market. Jute, shrimp, vegetables, pharmaceuticals and RMG are some of the major products. The country is going to transition needs more investment in education, technology and innovation.
Kohinoor Yeasmin, CEO of Tarango, Rezbin Begum, MD, People’s Leather Industry, AFM Asif, CEO Bengal Meat Processing industries Ltd and Executive Director of Bangladesh Bank Dr. Md. Kabir Ahmed were also present as panel discussants. DCCI senior Vice President SM Golam Faruk Alamgir Arman and vice President Md. Junaed Ibna Ali were also present on the occasion.
