Dhaka, May 19 -- A prolonged pen-down protest by revenue officials demanding the scrapping of an ordinance that bifurcated their board takes a heavy toll on total supply-chain management of imports, besides tax-collection slowdown.

Meanwhile, the protesting officials of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) have suspended their strike for today (Tuesday) following government assurances of discussions.

A panel for advisers, led by Finance adviser Dr Salehuddin Ahmed, would hold meeting with the dissenting revenue officials to discuss ways out of the standoff.

The protesters said their pen-down strike "will be paused for a day due to the meeting, and further decisions on the protests will come after the discussions".

At a press briefing M...