Tariffs on 4,271 items to decreaseas Safta takes effect tomorrow
Staff Correspondent
Bangladesh will reduce tariffs on 4,271 items by five per cent on average by December 31, 2008 under South Asian Free Trade Area (Safta) agreement taking effect tomorrow.National Board of Revenue (NBR) yesterday issued a circular stating that the tariff rates will be reduced in three phases. The first phase begins on July 1 and will end on December this year. The second phase will start on January 1 of the next year and continue till December while the third phase will be the year 2008. Following discussions with the Saarc countries, Bangladesh will bring the tariff down to zero per cent by 2015 of those 4,271 imports, the circular stated. Bangladesh has also listed 1,254 items for which there will be no tariff reduced. The Safta agreement, which was signed at Islamabad Saarc summit on January 2004, was supposed to come into effect from January 2006. But for various contradictions between the countries, it could not begin to apply by that time.
| 
