Muhith through the eyes of NBR chiefs

As finance minister, Abul Maal Abdul Muhith was the architect of Bangladesh's first trillion-taka budget, a sum that has risen 365 percent over the next decade.

Muhith would describe himself as "ambitious" when it came to drawing up the country's spending plans, which often attracted criticism. Nevertheless, his goal was to stimulate the economy through a big budget.

As the agency tasked with collecting revenues for the government, the National Board of Revenue had to work in tandem with the finance ministry to offset the fiscal deficits stemming from the massive budgets.

As a result, two former chairmen of the NBR, Nasir Uddin Ahmed and Ghulam Hussain, had the chance to see Muhith work from close quarters.

Following the passing of the former finance minister, who had delivered 12 national budgets, on Sunday, the two former NBR chiefs looked back on Muhith's contributions to building Bangladesh's macro-economic framework, including rising revenue collections.

Late finance minister M Saifur Rahman also gave a total of 12 budgets, but Muhith presented it the national budget for a record 10 times in a row, died early on Saturday at the age of 88.

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Muhith worked for a long time in several development agencies after leaving public service in 1981. He joined the Awami League in 2001 and was appointed a member of its Advisory Council in 2002. He was elected a Member of Parliament in 2009 from his home constituency in Sylhet.

After his election to parliament, he was inducted into Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's cabinet as finance minister. He had also served as finance minister during HM Ershad’s military rule. He retired from politics in 2019 after a decade-long tenure as finance minister.

In his budget for fiscal 2009-10, he set a revenue target of Tk 610 billion, which had grown exponentially to almost Tk 2.21 trillion in his farewell budget for fiscal 2018-19.

Nasir Uddin, who was in charge of the NBR when Muhith took over the finance ministry, highlighted the importance Muhith attached to raising revenue collections along with the size of the budget.

"Even after serving as a government employee at one point, the way he led the country towards development by increasing revenue collections and ensuring overall economic progress is, in one word, impeccable," said Nasir.

“I had the privilege of working closely with him for almost four years. He was so diligent, hardworking, honest, and tried to gain a deep understanding of what was necessary to carry out his duties.”

Muhith had a "global vision" for Bangladesh, according to Nasir. "The tremendous economic progress, including the development, GDP and export growth that we are seeing today has only been possible because of him."

"He understood that the precondition for economic development is revenue growth. From the beginning, he had been exploring ways to increase revenues. The enormity of his plans was such that it could take a long time to implement. The driving force behind his long-term plans was building 'Golden Bangladesh' envisioned by Bangabandhu.”

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The former NBR chairman believes the current Bangladesh economy is the culmination of Muhith's visionary thinking. "I think as far as today's Bangladesh economy is concerned, its chief architect is Muhith."

On Muhith's work ethic as finance minister, Nasir said, "There were times when he would work until 12am and he'd called me in case he needed anything. It came as a surprise to me."

“He was always informal and would be immersed in his work. We found him to have an extraordinary personality. I felt that this mild-mannered and jolly man was endowed with the greatest of human qualities.”

"To understand his qualities, just think about the state of our budgets before he came and see where he took them."

Ghulam Hussain, the second NBR chairman during Muhith's tenure, was also full of praise for the former minister. "I have never seen such a patriotic, selfless and honest person in my life."

“The NBR is the main source of revenue for the country. It is a difficult task to lead and manage this organisation. He never indulged any wrongdoings in this organisation.”

“The NBR is involved with some of the most influential groups in the country, especially in business and finance. So it’s very difficult to make any big decisions."

"But if he (Muhith) was told that something needed to be done [to increase revenue], he would grasp the issue very quickly and make bold decisions."

Hussain said that he would get Muhith's backing if he found himself at odds with various business groups while trying to collect revenue.

“You have to go to great lengths to work in this organisation. Lots of different situations arise. It is difficult to work without the support of the minister. "

Recounting one such incident, Hussain said, “I won't mention the name of the sector but at the time, it was rife with tax evasion. We learnt that they didn't even pay 25 percent tax. Our commissioner conducted an investigation at the factory level and was able to prove that the sector was committing massive tax evasion.

"Then when we would go to work, the pressure was so great that it made an NBR chairman like me feel like nothing. If he [Muhith] had not been a part of the efforts to expose the syndicate, it wouldn't have been possible for the NBR to do it."

Hussain also recalled Muhith's contributions to creating new tax sectors to increase revenue collections.

"During my tenure, two new taxes were imposed on tobacco due to its environmental and health implications. One of them was the 1 percent environmental tax. Another is the cost of treating various diseases due to smoking. In 2014, I imposed two surcharges on the sector. It would not have been possible to do it without his backing."

"He never made any compromise when it came to revenue collection and had no personal relations with anyone involved in the process."