In the current economic stagnation due to the disruptions caused by the Covid-19 outbreak, revenue collection has already been stumbled. In this situation, the government is going to set a target of huge revenue collection for the next 2020-21 financial year.
According to the relevant sources of the Finance Ministry, the revenue target for the next financial year may be around Tk 330,000 crore.
The country’s economists and analysts said, while the revenue target is not being met at present times during such pandemic, a bigger revenue plan may remain unachievable.
According to Finance Ministry information, the target of revenue collection of Tk 330,000 crore is 1.35 percent of the original target for the current financial year.
It is to be noted, in the present fiscal (2019-2020) the revenue target was Tk 325,600 crore, from that point of view, the next fiscal revenue collection target is nothing big. But, against the present revenue target, realization in the first nine months of (2019-2020FY) was Tk 165,000 crore by the National Board of Revenue (NBR). Calculating, the average monthly revenue realization, until the end of the current fiscal, the realization will be Tk 220,000 crore.
In this regard, the National Board of Revenue (NBR) former chairman Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan told journalists that, “As the coronavirus taking its toll on the globe including Bangladesh, this time no situation prevails to fix big revenue targets as per the norm. As the production of every industry is stopped, companies have no earnings, loan installments interest of the banks' customers have been postponed for two months, goals should be set that can be achieved in such a situation. Because the coming financial year is a little unusual”.
Economist and Executive Director of the Policy Research Institute Ahsan H Mansur said, “During this pandemic, such bigger revenue realization is not possible.”
Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal on May 7, while talking to journalists at a press briefing said, the budget for the fiscal year 2020-21 is set to be placed in the parliament on June 11.
Sources informed that the finance minister has already met Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and presented budget preparation. The Prime Minister has given them directions on some issues, sources informed.