According to the provisional data of the National Board of Revenue (NBR), 7.67% more revenue has been deposited in the state coffers in the first month of the current fiscal year compared to that of FY22.
In July FY23, Tk16,520.45 crore had been collected as income tax, value added tax (VAT) and customs duty, which was Tk15,344.25 crore in FY22.
Year on Year (YoY) collection increased by Tk 1,176.2 crore.
Despite the YoY growth, July’s target for revenue collection is lagging behind by Tk4065.55 crore, meaning it was 19.75% lower than the target.
The target for revenue collection in July was Tk20,586 crore.
According to NBR’s data, in July the revenue collection in the customs sector has increased significantly compared to July FY22. The growth in the customs sector was 37.68%.
Basically, due to the increase in the price of goods in the international market, the duty collection at the import level has naturally increased.
Data analysis disclosed that the revenue collection from customs during this period of one month totalled Tk6766.68 crore, where the target was Tk6704 crore.
The NBR data also showed that the revenue collection from customs increased by Tk62.68 crore (37.68%) in July, as the revenue collection from the sector was Tk4914.68 crore during the same period last year.
On the other hand, revenue collected from VAT was Tk3,192.38 crore lower than the target.
Tk5,021.62 crore has been collected as VAT in July, though the target for the month was Tk8214 crore.
We can see that there was a shortfall in income and travel tax collection as well.
In the month of July, Tk4,732.15 crore was collected from the sector, where the target was Tk5,668 crore. A deficit of Tk935.85 crore.
Regarding the matter, former chairman of the National Board of Revenue (NBR), Dr Muhammad Abdul Mazid told the Dhaka Tribune: “It seems that it will be challenging for the NBR to meet its revenue target for FY23. One of the main reasons for this is that earlier NBR officials used to set targets considering their own capabilities. As a result, they were very close to achieving the target but now a goal is set from the top which may not match the reality on the ground.”
“As a result, the deficit continues to grow and even in FY23, the revenue target has been set at 12.12% more compared to last year.”
Regarding achieving the huge target the former NBR chief Abdul Mazid said: “There have been talks about automation for a long time. In some places, they have even implemented it, which is certainly promising. But the NBR's online services need to be enhanced further to meet this wide target challenge. Again, not only is there a shortage of workers but there is also a shortage of skilled or technically updated staff. Above all, the NBR needs to change the way they work.”
“Increase in import of some products can be a reason behind the increase in customs duty collection in July, but we have to wait two or three more months to understand whether the import is actually increasing, and which way the trend of revenue collection is going. The government has to think differently about the revenue office modernization and the facilities of its staff as well, as they are the ones who bring money to run the state,” he also added.
In the current fiscal year, NBR has been given a target of Tk370,000 crore, which is Tk40,000 crore more than the FY22 target.
In the last fiscal year (FY22), NBR collected a total of Tk302,000 crore.
To achieve this target, there should be about 23% growth in revenue collection this fiscal year.