Revenue target falls Tk 38.57cr short for low imports
Rejaul Karim Byron
As imports of a number of commodities have been lower than the projection, the government's targeted revenue collection in the first three months of the current fiscal falls Tk 38.57 crore short.The current fiscal envisages a 20 percent revenue growth, but it grew by only 9.30 percent in the first quarter. According to a report of the National Board of Revenue (NBR), tax and duties from import falls short by Tk 59.34 crore. Other taxes and duties fall Tk 13.6 crore short of the target. But the good news is that revenue collection in the form of taxes and duties at local level has exceeded the target by Tk 29.53 crore and income tax exceeded the target by Tk 4.8 crore. These two factors have cut down the level of revenue shortfall. The NBR says compared to the corresponding period of last year, the imports of sugar, bitumen, oil seed, edible oil, cement clinker, motor cars, spices, machinery and spare parts and other main import items were much lower. "During the current fiscal, the duty slab on import has been reduced. This has also affected the revenue collection," a high official of the NBR said. Between July and September, the NBR targeted revenue collection of Tk 5,476.28 crore. But it collected Tk 5,437 crore. In the corresponding period last year, the NBR had collected Tk 4,975 crore.
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