The government is reviewing the economic situation of Bangladesh.
“With the preliminary symptoms, it seems that the country’s economic situation is moving towards improvement,” Finance Minister AH Mahmud Ali said in Parliament.
He made the statement while responding to a supplementary question from independent lawmaker elected from Kishoreganj Sohrab Uddin.
The minister hoped that in the next few days the total scenario of country’s economy will be clear.
In his question Sohrab Uddin said that the country's economy is in turmoil due to the dollar crisis and money laundering.
“There is a need to allow undisclosed money for legalizing to face the crisis of money due to money laundering,” he said.
He mentioned that this sort of opportunity was also provided in the past under special arrangements.
Sohrab Uddin wants to know whether the government will give an opportunity to legalize undisclosed income through paying extra tax to prevent money laundering and eliminate the dollar crisis.
“However, it is not black money, but legal and undisclosed income,” said the independent MP.
In reply, the finance minister said that the government is reviewing the entire thing.
“Not only the black money, but the entire economic situation is under review. After seeing the initial symptoms, it seems to be that we are heading towards improvement. After a few more days, I will get a complete picture. Until then, please be patient,” he said
In response to the written questions of Independent Member elected from Kusthia-4 Abdur Rauf, Ali said that some 3.6 million people have submitted income tax returns in the country till January, 2024.
In response to the question of another independent member of parliament, Hushamuddin Chowdhury, the finance minister said that the number of TIN holders across the country is 9.97 million.
“But some 3.6 million returns have been submitted and some Tk5,901 crore was deposited in the national exchequer,” he said.
Ali, responding to a question of independent member Saiful Islam, said that some 56 projects are going on with the financial assistance of the World Bank.
In response to another question of his question, the finance minister said that as a result of the government's action, point-to-point inflation has started decreasing gradually from November 2023.
According to the latest data, point-to-point inflation stood at 9.41% in December, while it was 9.74% in June, he added.
Answering to ruling party lawmaker Samil Uddin Ahmed Shimul's question, Ali said that 87.7% of the target of revenue collection has been achieved till December 2023 of the fiscal year 2023-24.
“During this time, the revenue collection was Tk1.65 lakh crore. From the stamp duty the collection was Tk1,626 crore. The deficit is Tk23,227 crore,” he said.
In response to the question of Awami League MP elected from Chittagong M Abdul Latif, the finance minister said that the Japanese government has given financial assistance of $3.38 million in 2023 for the development of human resources in Bangladesh.
In response to a question from ruling party MP Mamunur Rashid Kiran, the finance minister said that a new return form and a one-page return form has been introduced to simplify the income tax return process.
He also mentioned that TRP (Tax Return Preparer) program will be introduced to simplify return filing process.
