Sangsad Bhaban – Black money worth Tk 13,372 crore have been whitened (legalised) since the country’s independence, Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith told Parliament on Thursday. – UNB
The government earned Tk 1,454 crore in tax through whitening of the illegal money, he said replying to an unstarred (written) question from Awami League lawmaker M Abdul Latif (Chittagong-11).
According to statistics placed by the minister in the House, Tk 2.25 crore was whitened from 1971 to 1975, Tk 50.76 crore from 1976 to 1980, Tk 45.89 crore from 1981 to 1990, Tk 150.79 crore from 1991 to 1996, Tk 950.41 crore from 1997 to 2000, Tk 827.74 crore from 2001 to 2006, Tk 9,682.99 from 2007 to 2009, Tk 1,805.01 crore from 2009 to 2013, and Tk 856.30 crore from 2013 till now.
Responding to a separate unstarred question from the same MP, the minister said one-fifth branches of eight state-owned commercial and specialised banks incurred the loss last year.
“The total number of the branches that incurred loss in the state-owned commercial and specialised banks was 1,040 out of 5,127 ones as per the statistics of June 30, 2016,” Muhith said.
According to the statistics, 290 out of 1,208 branches of Sonali Bank experienced losses, while 230 out of 1,031 branches of Bangladesh Krishi Bank, 168 out of 379 branches of Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank, 126 out of 558 branches of Rupali Bank, 99 out of 935 branches of Agrani Bank, 74 out of 909 branches of Janata Bank, 28 out of 68 branches of Basic Bank and 25 out of 39 branches of BDBL incurred losses.
In response to an unstarred question from AL MP Pinu Khan (Reserved Seat-23), the Finance Minister said some 15.52 lakh people or organisations paid income tax in the 2016-17 fiscal year till June 6 last. Now the number of TIN certificate holders is 29.03 lakh, he added.
The government has set a target of revenue collection of Tk 87,190 crore from the income tax in the upcoming fiscal year of 2017-18, Muhith said.
