Finance minister wants NBR to set revenue collection target on its own

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal is averse to the idea of the government setting the revenue collection target for the National Board of Revenue or NBR.

He says the NBR itself will set the target from now on rather than the government putting the board under pressure.

"We will take the bottom-up approach for revenue collection. Previously, the government set the target, but we will not do it now.

“Now NBR itself will work it out and set the target to collect revenue," he said at a meeting with business leaders in Dhaka on Thursday.

Kamal is hopeful of achieving the revenue target of over Tk 2.96 trillion set for the current fiscal year.

“I believe we can achieve it to the full…because we’ve achieved a revenue growth of 19 percent in the past. It does not happen in many countries," he said.

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal and Prime Minister's Private Industry and Investment Adviser Salman F Rahman hold a meeting with business and industries representatives at the National Economic Council's conference room in Dhaka on Thursday.

The government is working to set up income tax offices in 492 Upazilas to boost the revenue collection capacity of the NBR, he said.

Leaders of FBCCI, DCCI, MCCI, leather and footwear manufacturers, agricultural businesses, real estate sectors, and government stakeholders attended the meeting.

Among others, Prime Minister’s Adviser for Private Industry and Investment Salman F Rahman and Bangladesh Bank Governor Fazle Kabir attended the meeting.

The finance minister assured the business leaders of prioritising measures to improve the business climate.

Salman Rahman has been tasked with looking into ways to of make business easy, Kamal said, and added, “Please wait for a quarter (of a financial year) and see what happens. Please give us some time.” 

FBCCI President Shafiul Islam Mohiuddin said they complained about multi-level tax system and high interest rates. “The finance minister pledged to solve the issues and we trust him,” he added.

“No businessman will complain after this meeting that we are not helping them,” the finance minister said.