By IANS,
Yangon : The Myanmar government has exempted commercial tax for exporters for six months to encourage export, Xinhua reported Monday.
The exemption will be effective from Aug 15, 2011 to Feb 14, 2012. The export items covered by the exemption are rice, beans pulses, maize, sesame, rubber, animal and animal by-products, and marine items, according to a government order.
The announcement comes after the depreciation of the US dollar that caused losses to exporters.
Myanmar’s foreign trade rose to $15 billion in the fiscal 2010-11 from $11.8 billion in 2009-10, official figures show.
Despite the rise of foreign trade, the country’s agricultural export dropped year on year to 900,000 tonnes in 2010-11 from 1.3 million tonnes in 2009-10.
Myanmar’s rice export fell sharply to 500,000 tonnes in 2010-11 from 900,000 tonnes in 2009-10.
The decline was partly attributed to the depreciation of the US dollar since the middle of 2010, which has also slashed exporters’ earnings.