Finance Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury on Thursday expressed his deep optimism about National Board of Revenue (NBR) meeting its record revenue collection target set for the current fiscal year (FY 2026-27), despite years of repeated shortfalls.
The revenue administration is fully prepared to deliver, he said, signalling the government's determination to strengthen fiscal resources amid mounting budgetary pressures.
The minister was speaking to reporters after a meeting with senior NBR officials and business leaders at the Revenue Building in the capital.
"Revenue collection will be very good. Everyone at the NBR is geared up. God willing, we will achieve the revenue target we have set," he said.
For the current fiscal year, the government has set an NBR revenue collection target of Tk 6.04 trillion, around 45 per cent higher than the target for the just-concluded fiscal year.
Such a steep year-on-year increase in the revenue target is unprecedented.
In FY 2025-26, the NBR was assigned a revenue collection target of Tk 5.03 trillion but collected around Tk 4.20 trillion, falling well short of the goal.
The revenue authority has consistently failed to meet its annual collection targets in recent years.
The meeting was attended by NBR Chairman Ahsan Habib, the finance secretary and other senior revenue officials.
Leaders of the Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA) also met the finance minister during the session and presented a number of demands.
Referring to the discussions with the BTMA leaders, Mr Khosru said the government had been maintaining regular engagement with the business community to understand the challenges it faces and identify ways to address them.
"We have already undertaken a number of deregulatory measures. If any issues remain unresolved, they are being discussed. The process of addressing these problems is ongoing and will continue," he said.
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