VAT exemptions contributing to low VAT-GDP ratio

According to data from the Chattogram Custom House, the amount of imports of 20 different types of import items through the Chattogram port have decreased by half in the first eight months of the current fiscal year 2022–23 compared to the same period last FY. While the amount of imports in FY22 was 89.05 lakh tonnes, resulting in a 4.73% growth year-over-year loss in income, the import of cane sugar and betel nuts during the eight months of FY23 earned Tk2,605 crore in revenue.

In order to ensure macroeconomic stability, economists advise the government to include fresh measures in the national budget for the upcoming fiscal 2023–2024 while continuing the Covid stimulus package. A wealth tax was suggested by economists as a way to lessen inequality, along with significant government involvement in healthcare and education.

The bank lending cap is being abolished as Bangladesh Bank finally resolves to reverse the crisis-era measure and grant bankers their long-desired rise in profitability. Bankers lamented the fact that are operating under two set interest brackets—rates on loans given by banks and on deposits, they accept from customers—inflationary pressure on their revenues was eroding their profit margins. The central bank will establish a market-based reference rate under the interest rate-corridor method for the banks to fix the loan rate based on the benchmark rate in place of the lending rate cap of 9.0 percent, which was imposed in April 2020, the BB sources said.

Telecommunications businesses suggested that the National Board of Revenue should lower the corporation tax rate in the national budget for the upcoming fiscal year 2023–2024 in order to assure ease of doing business. The similar demand was made by the beverage and tobacco manufacturing industries. According to them the corporate tax in Bangladesh was higher than that in the other countries.

Finance officials reported that the government's budget deficit increased in the first half of the current fiscal year due to declining income receipts, and economists do not see any improvement in the near future. According to official statistics, the budget deficit up to December was Tk 101.66 billion despite decreasing income collection. Up until November, the deficit was Tk 71.53 billion.