NBR revenue growth hits fiscal-year low of 3.21% in January

Revenue collection growth slowed to 3.21 percent in January, leaving a Tk 601.12bn deficit in seven months

Bangladesh has seen its lowest revenue growth of the current fiscal year in January, the final full month of the interim administration before the national election, as the collection deficit widened to Tk 601.12 billion.

Data released by the National Board of Revenue (NBR) on Monday shows that growth slowed to just 3.21 percent in January, barely undercutting the previous low of 3.31 percent recorded in October.

The slowdown follows a period of robust performance in the first quarter of the 2025-26 fiscal year.

Following the economic stagnation caused by the July Uprising and subsequent change of power, the NBR initially posted strong growth figures: 24.61 percent in July, 18.03 percent in August, and 20.15 percent in September.

However, momentum fluctuated significantly in the following months.

While November and December saw double-digit growth of 15.41 percent and 11.45 percent respectively, January’s sharp decline has dragged the cumulative growth for the July-January period down to 12.90 percent.

Over the first seven months of the fiscal year, total revenue collection stood at Tk 2.24 trillion, up from Tk 1.98 trillion during the same period last year.

Despite this increase, the NBR remains significantly behind its targets.

The government has set a revised revenue target of Tk 5.03 trillion through the NBR for the current fiscal year, up slightly from the original budget estimate of Tk 4.99 trillion.

Then finance advisor Salehuddin Ahmed had initially set an overall revenue goal of Tk 5.64 trillion (9 percent of GDP) from all sources, including Tk 650 billion from non-NBR sectors.