The government will import gold through two banks

Star News: Following the long-standing demands of traders, the government is finally making a gold policy, whose draft has already been made. According to the draft policy, two banks in the country will import gold. Buy the gold holders of the licensee. If someone wants to do gold business, he will have to take a license under the Gold purchase, Storage and Distribution Act of 1987. No one can buy gold from the bank without the licencees.

The draft policy has been made by the Ministry of Commerce. There are nine meetings with the concerned people so far. Dilip Kumar Agarwala, general secretary of the Bangladesh Jewelers Association (BZU), said the Commerce Ministry has taken opinions from various parties regarding the draft policy. Now the work of embedding these opinions is going on.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Commerce has given the opportunity to import gold as an interim arrangement before the policy. Dilip Kumar Agrawala said that as an interim arrangement, the traders will apply to the Ministry of Trade, along with necessary documents. The Ministry of Commerce will scrutinize and scrutinize.

It has been mentioned in draft policy that bringing the entire gold business to a discipline and accountability. The concerned people say, if the policy draft has been implemented, it will be difficult to do illegal gold business. Because who is buying gold, where is the sale, how much is stored, everything will be in the account.

Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith gave a letter to the National Board of Revenue (NBR) in January last year with the initiative to open the import of gold. The Bangladesh Jewelers Association offered three proposals to the government in this regard. In view of these, the Ministry of Commerce initiated the policy of importing gold. Then a draft policy was made.

After the draft policy is finalized, its name will be 'Gold Policy-2018'. According to its proposal, in 2016, the total gold jewelery exports in the world was 63.87 billion dollars. Belgium and European countries, including India and China, are among the gold and silver producing and exporting countries. The main importer countries are Switzerland, China, United Kingdom, Hong Kong, United States, United Arab Emirates, Belgium, Germany and Singapore. In the beginning it is said that 80% of the handmade gold jewelery is manufactured in India and Bangladesh. But due to various reasons Bangladesh could not play the role in this sector. In the year 2014-15, Bangladesh earns $ 6712 from this sector.

According to the draft policy, Bangladesh takes 20 to 40 tons gold per year. A large part of which is collected from Bangladeshi citizens abroad, imported a little and is collected by melting old gold. In most cases, gold traders can not show any papers of gold stored on them.

Currently, gold and silver can be imported under the terms of foreign currency law -1947 in Bangladesh. But before the import, the approval of the Bangladesh Bank has to be obtained. However, traders can not import gold in this process. According to the policy, the method of importing gold bars through an authorized dealer (AD) bank of foreign exchange can be introduced to meet the internal needs. Initially, two banks can be declared as AD Bank and subsequently interested other banks will be allowed. Edi Bank will import gold from the international reputable institution directly and traders from here buy it.

It is further mentioned in the draft policy that after the publication of the advertisement of AD Bank, traders can submit their demand 15 days in advance. During this time, they will verify the total sales, revenue payment, gold reserves etc. in the previous year. AD Bank will import gold without any charge But at the time of sale they will pay all taxes.

Apart from imported gold, traders can also buy from ordinary people. In this regard, it has been said in the policy to keep a photocopy, update photo and full address of the national ID card or passport to buy from the customer. The government will confiscate the gold if it is out of the box.

According to the current baggage rules, a person can bring up to 234 grams of gold bars while returning from abroad. It has to pay 3 thousand taka per acre. It has been mentioned twice in a year in the draft policy. It is also advisable to bring gold up to two kilograms subject to the tax paid by traders registered under baggage rules. Nobody else can use this opportunity for the owner.

Apart from this, the draft policy has presented various proposals for the protection of consumer interest and the export of gold and jewelry. Bazus president Ganges Charan Malakar said, the duty and import duty on gold should be comparatively low, so that gold is not encouraged to get stolen...... Red More

The Star News BD.com / MSR