Finance minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith on Wednesday assured the garment exporters that the government would consider favourably their demand for additional five per cent cash incentive by relaxing a previous condition.
   He agreed to relax the condition in response to demands by leaders of the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association and Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association at a meeting in his secretariat office.
   The finance ministry had attached the condition for providing additional cash incentive under a stimulus package worth around Tk 4,500 crore that was announced last November to protect the local export-oriented industries from the delayed impact of the global recession.
   According to the condition a readymade garment industry would be qualified to receive additional cash incentive only when it exported products worth more than $3.5 million per year.
   Following the assurance, the garment exporters are likely to get 10 per cent cash incentive instead of 5 per cent they are getting at present.
   Besides, the finance minister also responded positively to another demand of the export-oriented garment manufacturers of charging flat rate instead of the increased rate in the peak hours until improvement in the power situation.
   Another demand by the associations of suspending the decision of power tariff hike for RMG units was dismissed.
   The BGMEA president Abdus Salam Murshedy and BKMEA president Fazlul Haque led the delegation.
   Murshedy said due to power shortage, the garment makers have to operate captive power generators and since these generators are over utilised to make up power shortage, those might be out of order.
   ‘Considering this, we proposed for the facilities of getting loans for import of captive power generators with 2 percent interest rate and the finance minister was positive on the matter.’