April NBR revenues up marginally

The government's revenue authority saw only modest improvement in tax- collection growth in April, with receipts increasing by nearly 7.0 per cent year on year, underscoring the mounting pressure on the National Board of Revenue (NBR) to meet its ambitious annual target.
Revenue growth in March had slowed sharply to only 2.67 per cent compared to the same month a year earlier.
Economists say average revenue growth should remain around 15 per cent to keep pace with inflation and nominal Gross Domestic Product (GDP) expansion.
According to provisional NBR data, the revenue authority will have to collect around Tk 885 billion per month to achieve its annual target of Tk 5.03 trillion in the current fiscal year.
In April alone, the NBR collected Tk 390.59 billion in tax revenue.
During the July-April period of FY26, tax collection grew by nearly 11 per cent, with total receipts reaching Tk 3.26 trillion.

Average monthly collection during the period stood at Tk 326.92 billion.
A study released on Monday by the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) projected that the revenue shortfall could reach Tk 1.0 trillion this fiscal year.
The government has set an overall revenue target of Tk 6.97 trillion for FY27, including both tax and non-tax revenue, implying a growth requirement of at least 42 per cent.
Officials and analysts attributed the weak performance to sluggish business activities, declining imports, weak investment inflows, tensions in the Middle East, rising fuel prices, and persistently high inflation.
The widening revenue gap is expected to intensify pressure on the new government to manage rising public expenditures and secure external budget-support financing.
Economists warned that the FY27 revenue target of Tk 6.04 trillion would be difficult to achieve unless the NBR stepped up efforts to reduce tax exemptions and identify new revenue sources.
Until April, income tax and travel tax collection grew by nearly 12 per cent, followed by local-stage VAT at 11.01 per cent and import-export  duties at nearly 9.0 per cent. However, VAT collection registered a negative growth of 3.17 per cent in April alone, while income tax and import duties posted growth of nearly 15 per cent and 18 per cent, respectively.
Senior Research Fellow of CPD Towfiqul Islam Khan said the government now had limited options to avert a revenue shortfall of around Tk 1.0 trillion.
Mr Khan, who coordinates CPD's Independent Review of Bangladesh's Development (IRBD) programme, said the government should adopt "extraordinary measures" to curb tax expenditures, recover arrears, bring state-owned enterprises to the capital market, introduce a wealth tax, and accelerate structural tax reforms. "If the government ignores such reforms and continues at the current pace, the revenue shortfall could widen to Tk 1.40 trillion next year," he warned.
He, however, expressed hope that revenue growth in May and June would improve compared to the same period of the last fiscal year, when collection dropped amid agitation over NBR bifurcation issues.
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