No further scope to whiten black money: Muhith

Finance Minister AMA Muhith affirmed Friday that there will be no further opportunity to whiten black money in the coming budget though he carefully skipped the issue in his budget speech.
 “It (offer for legalising black money) has been cancelled from now. You can think that it has become effective from Friday. We’ll incorporate it (in budget),” he told reporters at a post-budget press conference at the Osmani Memorial Auditorium in the city, according to a news agency.
Muhith mentioned that the government had offered the opportunity to legalise black money for investing in the stock market and housing sector in the past years.
“Only Tk 340 million has been received in tax through whitening black money in the last two years. That means, only around Tk 3.40 billion was whitened. So, there’s no reason to continue this provision,” he explained when he was asked to clear the air about it. Considering the outcomes of the last two years and the amount whitened, Muhith said, it seems there is no black money in the country.
The Finance Minister said the black money is generated hugely through land selling and there is a need for further discussion on how it can be removed.
In his budget speech, Muhith carefully did not touch the controversial provision of whitening black money opposed by most economists and civil society organisations as they think continuation of such provision will breed more black money.
The Finance Minister stood against the continuation of the scope for whitening black on many occasions, especially in pre-budget discussions.