Finance Minister AMA Muhith on Monday hinted that the revenue collection target by the National Board of Revenue (NBR) for the current fiscal year (2013-14) might be revised this month due to the disruption in overall economic activity amid political instability, especially in the last two to three months. “The problem in the last two to three months, especially the terrorism this year, has brought the economic activity to a standstill. If there is no economic activity how could people earn and how could we collect revenues? So, there is a need to revise this (revenue collection) target, and I hope at the end of this month we shall do something to this end,” he said. The Finance Minister said this while speaking with NBR officials in the afternoon at its conference room. Newly inducted State Minister for Finance MA Mannan, NBR chairman Md Ghulam Hossain, NBR members and other high officials were present. Muhith further said such anarchy and violence unleashed by the opposition across the country over the recently held 10th parliamentary elections would come to an end by this month as it should not be allowed to stretch further. He said the revenue collection target for the current fiscal was not very ambitious, but the final revenue collection of the last fiscal year was lower than its projection, which automatically turn the target for the next fiscal ambitious. The Finance Minister said the government utilized TK 1,74,000 crore out of the total budget of TK 1,89,000 crore in the last fiscal for which the revenue collection target has marked a rise this fiscal. “In any case, we had to revise this year’s revenue collection target.” Muhith on June 6, 2013 placed the Tk 2,22,491 crore national budget for the current fiscal year (2013-14) in parliament eying a 7.2 percent GDP growth rate. The budget also set a revenue income target of Tk 1,67,459 crore which is 14.1 percent of GDP, of which NBR tax revenue is Tk 1,36,090 crore (11.4 percent of GDP). The revenue from non-NBR sources has been estimated at Tk 5,129 crore (0.4 percent of GDP). Besides, Tk 26,240 crore (2.2 percent of GDP) will be collected as non-tax revenue (NTR). The Finance Minister said the immediate past government more or less fulfilled its commitments it made to the nation five years back riding on two things — overcoming the adverse effects of the global economic recession and robust growth in revenue earnings. He said the revenue collection growth witnessed around 190 percent in the last five years which is also equal to the growth of the previous 15 years. Muhith also said he is likely to sit with the Finance Ministry officials, including that of the NBR, on Thursday to chalk out the plan for the next five years. He also hoped that having a State Minister in his Ministry would be useful as he would be able to share the workloads. State Minister for Finance MA Mannan said there has been a huge change in the socio-economic sector of the country in the last five years as the country is now at the takeoff stage in economic activity. NBR chairman Md Ghulam Hossain said political instability in the last few months coupled with some other reasons have put a negative impact on the overall revenue collection. He informed that the single-month revenue collection witnessed a shortfall of around TK 3,500 crore in December, 2013 while the overall revenue collection shortfall now stands over TK 8,000 crore. Under the circumstances, he said, the number of submission of income tax returns this year were some one lakh less than the previous year. – UNB
Mentioning the government’s preparedness to face any barriers ahead, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam on Monday said they do not consider anything as a ‘threat’ to its march forward as it maintains friendly relations with the international community. “We don’t consider anything as a threat…we’re prepared for it (any future barriers),” he said indicating that there is something behind-the-scene ‘quiet diplomacy’. The new State Minister also said the presence of diplomats at Sunday’s oath-taking ceremony proves that they have full support for this government. “Or else, they (diplomats) would have skipped it.” Alam, who was looking very confident, came up with the remarks at his first press meet at the Foreign Ministry when reporters sought his comment on how the government will move forward amid the widespread criticisms by the international community about the polls results. He said the government would reply to any criticism in the international forum with facts, figures and proper evidence. “They (BNP-Jamaat) have no moral right to do politics for what politics they’re doing now. It matters little whether the party (BNP), the chief of which attended only parliament for only eight days out of its 400 working days, joined the election or not.” On war crimes trial, Alam said as the country is at a ‘crossroad’ and now it is the responsibility of all concerned to correctly portray things related to the issue. He said though there have been conspiracies from both home and abroad to block the trial process, the government would be able to overcome the future resistance the way it did while executing the first one with the support of all, especially the young generation. Responding to another question, Alam said there is no tradition that every country will have to make phone call to congratulate a new government. On restoration of GSP facility in the US market, he said, “That’s a challenge. (But) I would say it’s a matter of time now only to get that back. It’s my personal belief. We’ll also give priority to increase business in the European market.” The new State Minister said the government would give priority to make Bangladesh missions abroad more business-friendly for boosting trade ties with Bangladesh. He also expressed his optimism over the settlement of the long-pending Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) and Teesta Water sharing deal. “I’m still hopeful. I don’t want to be pessimist. I hope it (Teesta) will be done soon.” Asked about his priority in short-term, the junior minister mentioned about the pending result of the maritime boundary dispute with India. The outcome of the case is likely to be available by the middle of this year. Responding to another question, the State Minister said, “Hopefully, we’ll have a full-fledged minister within a next couple of weeks.” Foreign Secretary M Shahidul Haque and DG (External Publicity) M Shameem Ahsan were also present. – UNB
