Revenue growth exposes a yawning Tk 460bn hole in public finances at halfway mark

The staggering deficit comes despite the NBR collections growing 14 percent year-on-year

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Bangladesh’s revenue collection rose 14.19 percent year-on-year in the first six months of the current fiscal year, but still fell sharply short of both its mid-year target and the revised annual goal, provisional figures from the National Board of Revenue (NBR) show.

The NBR collected Tk 1.85 trillion between July and December of FY2025-26, up from Tk 1.62 trillion in the same period a year earlier, when the economy was grappling with uncertainty after the July Uprising and the subsequent change of power.

However, despite the growth, the NBR missed its six-month target of Tk 2.31 trillion by Tk 459.76 billion — a shortfall of 19.9 percent against the mid-year goal.

Measured against the revised annual NBR target of Tk 5.03 trillion, the collection so far represents only 36.8 percent of the yearly target.

It means revenue is still short by 63.2 percent at the halfway point of the fiscal year 2025-26.

The FY2025-26 budget initially set an overall revenue target of Tk 5.64 trillion, equivalent to 9 percent of GDP, with Tk 4.99 trillion expected from the NBR and Tk 650 billion from other sources.

Midway through the fiscal year, the revised budget raised the overall revenue target by Tk 240 billion, increasing the NBR’s target to Tk 5.03 trillion.