Country starting to reap benefits of reforms, record revenue collection: finance adviser

Reform programmes are working and the country has already started to reap their benefits, said Professor Rashed Al Mahmud Titumir, Finance and Planning Adviser to the Prime Minister.

He was speaking at a press conference held on Tuesday (10 November) in the conference room of the National Board of Revenue (NBR). NBR Chairman Md Ahsan Habib was present at the time.

The finance adviser said that as part of the reforms, customs houses collected the highest amount of duty in history towards the end of the last fiscal year. Income tax collection has also risen.

He said, “We inherited a fragile and devastated economy. The most unfortunate thing was that domestic resource mobilisation stood at only 6.67 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), which was among the lowest in South Asia as well as globally.”

Against this backdrop, a target has been set to raise the rate to 10 percent by 2030, he said. “Because of our specific plan, it has gained international acceptance,” the adviser said.

Describing the state of the economy and the burden of debt, the adviser said that, going by the accounts of previous governments, debt grew by more than 300 percent in a decade. Calculated from the 2007-08 fiscal year, it grew by 323 percent.

Taking government debt, guarantees and private sector debt together, total debt will stand at around $114 billion by June 2026. Of this, government debt and guarantees alone will amount to around $90 billion.

He added that $4.49 billion has already been spent on repaying debt principal and interest. By 2030, this expenditure could reach $7.6 billion.

To revive the economy from low revenue collection and the huge debt burden, revenue policy-making and revenue collection have been separated in the revenue department. In addition, three separate task forces have been formed for income tax, customs and value added tax (VAT).

Highlighting the achievements since the task forces were formed, Rashed Al Mahmud Titumir said, “From 2023-24 to the middle of 2024-25, the growth rate was 2.5 percent. But after we took charge and formed the task forces, that growth rate has now risen to 12.03 percent.”

He expressed hope that, despite some pressure on the international economy and revenue collection due to the recent crisis in the Middle East, the desired targets will be achieved.

The press conference was told that, based on domestic demand and stakeholders’ recommendations, the administrative and institutional structural reform of the National Board of Revenue is continuing.

Meanwhile, the press conference was told that the draft of the Bangladesh-South Korea trade agreement is being finalised in December.