Import of top twenty products contributed 7.33-percent higher taxes despite fall in both volume and value in the last calendar year, as penalizing fake declaration and trade-based money laundering pays off.
Watchdog action in gate-keeping at the prime port worked such wonders, said Chattogram Customs House (CCH) sources.
High Speed Diesel, Furnace oil and clinkers of cement remained the top three revenue-generating products at import-stage for two consecutive years in 2022 and 2023.
However, import of raw materials (imported by VAT-registered manufactures as raw materials) dropped from the top twenty revenue- generating items in 2023.
According to the recently compiled data of the country's largest gateway, the twenty major revenue-generating products contributed Tk 274 billion in revenue last year against Tk 255.27 billion in 2022.
The volume in net weight of import goods was 552 million (55259,516.34) tonnes, 2.71 per cent lower than that of corresponding period, while value (assessed value of customs) was Tk 1.35 trillion or 2.22 per cent lesser than in 2022.
Import of petroleum products, including high-speed diesel and furnace oil, cola, cement, palm oil, broken or crushed stones, apples, oranges, betelnuts, powdered milk and cream, cane or beet sugar, electric conductors, motor spirit of HBOC type, polypropylene, MS rod, ferrous waste and scraps were the major products among the top twenty revenue-generating items in 2023.
CCH deputy commissioner Md Bodruzzaman Munshi said the revenue collection increased in 2023 mainly due to intensified enforcement customs checking of tax-and duty evasion and trade-based money laundering.
Preventive penalty on fake declaration of goods, up to 200 per cent, also scared importers off the evasive path of misdeclaration.
Distinguished fellow of the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) Prof Dr Mustafizur Rahman also thinks the revenue collection has increased, despite fall in import value and volume, due to strict enforcement by customs authority in CCH to check leakage of taxes.
He says decline in prices of fuels and raw materials may have knock-on effect on country's employment and industrial growth.
"It also shows the evidences of country's steady investment scenario," he adds.
Import of high-speed diesel is the highest revenue-generating product among the 20 import goods in 2023.
HSD contributed Tk 65.97 billion in revenue to government exchequer against Tk 46.31 billion in 2022.
However, import volumes of both HSD and furnace oil dropped nearly 11 per cent and 45 per cent respectively in 2023 compared to that of previous year.
Furnace-oil imports halved in 2023, to 2.4 million (2480967.67) tonnes, against 4.4 million tonnes (4,470,293) in the previous year.
The CCH-collated data snowed quantity of cement-clinker imports having increased 5.17 per cent last year, yielding Tk 29.54 billion worth of revenue.
Despite the imposition of high-rated tariffs on import of apples and oranges-as part of belt-tightening to save scarce foreign-exchange reserves-the fruits remained on the top-twenty list of imports due to having huge local consumption by well-off people, although the quantity of import has declined slightly.
Some 148,888.39 tonnes of apples and 131,172.39 tonnes of oranges were imported last year through CCH, contributing to Tk 9.79 billion and Tk 8.37 billion in taxes to the public exchequer.
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