Bangladesh's internal tax revenue collection grew by nearly 16% year-on-year in the first quarter (Q1) of the current FY23 despite a shortfall of Tk4,074 crore against the target.
The National Board of Revenue (NBR) collected Tk67,104 crore in tax revenue during the period of July-September against its target of Tk71,178 crore, according to provisional data released on Sunday.
Two wings of the NBR -- VAT and Customs -- achieved more than 16% growth in revenue collection compared to the corresponding period of last year.
On the other hand, the income tax wing of the NBR achieved 13.82% growth in the July-September period of the current FY.
However, all three wings of the NBR are lagging behind their targets in Q1.
Economists said fluctuation in exchange rates in conversion from US dollar to Bangladesh taka and the domestic inflation played a significant role in spurring the tax revenue collection in Q1.
The country's inflation surged to a record 9.5% in August, the highest in 12 years, due to adverse effects of fuel price hike, according to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS).
In FY23, the government set a Tk370,000 crore target for NBR, expecting 12.12% growth over the previous FY target which was Tk330,000 crore.
The NBR's research and statistics wing recorded 12.12% growth on average in the last five years.
The Value Added Tax (VAT) wing collected Tk24,546 crore in revenue, followed by import and export fetching Tk22,454 crore and income tax and travel tax Tk20,102 crore in the first quarter of the current fiscal year.
To achieve the target for the current FY, the NBR would have to collect Tk92,500 crore in each of the quarters until June 30, 2023.
The government set a Tk111,000 crore target for import and export duty collection while a Tk136,000 crore target for VAT collection and a Tk122,000 crore target for income and travel tax collection.
