Finance Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali has said that the government would consider all the well-thought-out suggestions of businesses and concerned stakeholders in formulating the budget for the next fiscal year (FY25).
"I can say that all of your (businesses) well-thought-out suggestions will be considered in formulating the budget for the next fiscal year (FY25)," he told the 44th NBR-FBCCI Consultative Committee Meeting on the budget for the next fiscal year (FY25) held at a city hotel on Thursday.
State Minister for Finance Waseqa Ayesha Khan spoke on the occasion as a special guest, while NBR Chairman Abu Hena Md Rahmatul Muneem was in the chair.
FBCCI president Mahbubul Alam moderated the meeting, while senior vice president of FBCCI, Md Amin Helaly, gave the note of thanks.
Business leaders representing various chambers, associations, and sectors put forward their suggestions in the meeting on the next budget, while three separate presentations were made on income tax, customs, and VAT by concerned NBR members.
The finance minister said that in continuation of the NBR's series of pre-budget meetings, the day's consultative committee meeting was held where the business leaders could raise their demands directly in such a public forum.
Since the formulation of budgets is a continuous process, Ali said they have already listened to the demands and suggestions of the businesses.
He mentioned that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina really wants to hear from all the stakeholders and thus wants to ensure that everyone gets their just rights.
He said that the premier has pursued the approach "Nobody should be left behind," and she has implemented it in its true sense.
Regarding the budget for the next fiscal year, Ali said, "We've heard your (businesses) suggestions and statements, and let's see what we can do. The exercise for framing the budget is going on, and it will continue.".
The finance minister said the present government has been working tirelessly so that Bangladesh continues to move ahead and prosper further.
State Minister for Finance Waseqa Ayesha Khan said that the economy of Bangladesh is faring better compared to other countries in the world despite braving various challenges under the dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
She also suggested the NBR consider the rational demands of the business community when framing the next budget.
Noting that it is high time to reduce anti-export bias, Ayesha said that the business community tends to sell their produced items more in the local market instead of the export market since it bears much profit.
In this regard, she urged the business community to export more with diversification of exportable items and markets to earn more foreign currency.
NBR Chairman Abu Hena Md. Rahmatul Muneem said that the revenue board has been working relentlessly to ensure ease of doing business, on how to reduce the tax load on businesses, nursing the tax sources, and also to enhance the capacity of revenue mobilisation.
Referring to the dissatisfaction of some businesses towards the services of NBR, Muneem said such dissatisfaction could persist to some extent at the individual level but not on the whole, and thus suggested they contact the concerned personnel of NBR to avail themselves of their desired services without any hassle.
"We've got to enhance our revenue mobilisation capacity if we want to graduate from the LDCs. Otherwise, we won't be able to become a higher-middle-income or developed country," he added.
FBCCI president Mahbubul Alam said in his welcome speech that the business community does not want any unethical practices but rather wants to see improvements in the cost of doing business and the ease of doing business.
He said that to create some 20 lakh new jobs every year as envisioned by the prime minister, there is no alternative to creating an investment-friendly and employment-generation-friendly environment.
"If the NBR can meet our demands, then we will be able to do our business smoothly as well as the foreign businesses," added the FBCCI chief.
The business leaders across sectors demanded generating more employment, ensuring uninterrupted power and energy supply to the industries, raising facilities for the CMSMEs, ensuring product diversification and export diversification, ensuring a smooth supply chain of essential items and keeping those prices stable, further widening the tax net, raising the tax-GDP ratio, reducing economic inequality, and rationalising various exemptions.