Chattogram Customs House, which handles over 90% of Bangladesh’s imports and exports, achieved a historical revenue collection of Tk 61,464.72 crore during the fiscal year 2022-23. However, this impressive figure still fell short of the National Board of Revenue’s (NBR) target by 17.17%.
The FY21 revenue collection stood at Tk 51,576 crore against a target of Tk 64,303 crore. Similarly, in FY22, it earned Tk 59,159.83 crore with a revenue target of Tk 64,075 crore. Although the customs house began FY22-23 with more than 40% growth, it couldn’t sustain this momentum by the year’s end.
One major contributing factor to the revenue shortfall was the ongoing dollar crisis in Bangladesh. As part of austerity measures, commercial banks reduced the issuance of Letters of Credit (LCs) following the Bangladesh Bank’s directive. This, in turn, led to a decrease in the volume of imports, as evident in the Bill of Entry (BL) submissions at Chattogram Customs House.
In the outgoing fiscal year, the customs house saw a reduction of 2,68,736 BLs compared to the previous financial year. Despite this decrease, the revenue collection managed to increase by Tk 2,305 crore as compared to the previous fiscal year. Moreover, high-taxable products were imported less than before, while the import of low-duty goods, such as coal and stone, contributed to a drop in total revenue collection. Additionally, the customs house faced challenges in recovering dues from Petrobangla, which amounted to Tk 10,700 crore for LNG imports. While Tk 1,800 crore was paid in the previous fiscal year, no payments were received in the current year.
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