In the first half of the 2024-25 fiscal year there has been a significant shortfall of approximately 58 thousand crore taka in revenue collection against the set targets. According to the National Board of Revenue (NBR) the total revenue collected during the period from July to December was 1.56 lakh crore taka which is nearly 10 thousand crore taka less than the same period in the previous fiscal year. In the first six months of the 2023-24 fiscal year the revenue collected was 1.65 lakh crore taka showing a decrease of 6% or about 10 thousand crore taka year-on-year.

Officials from the NBR have attributed this shortfall to disruptions caused by student protests and political instability during the months of July and August which negatively impacted business activities and economic operations thus affecting revenue collection. In particular the targets for income tax VAT and import duties were not met during this period.

For the current fiscal year the revenue target stands at 4.80 lakh crore taka. However only 32% of this target approximately 32.5% was achieved in the first six months with the NBR collecting a total of 1.56 lakh crore taka whereas the target was 2.14 lakh crore taka. Among the different revenue sources income tax saw the largest shortfall with the target being 76,067 crore taka, but only 52,162 crore taka was collected.

Additionally both import duties and VAT collections fell short of their respective targets. The target for import duties was 61,952 crore taka but only 49,080 crore taka was collected. Similarly the VAT target was 66,317 crore taka with the actual collection amounting to 55,177 crore taka.

Mohammad Abdul Majid former chairman of NBR and a current member of the advisory committee for revenue sector reforms formed by the interim government stated that the political instability in the initial months of the fiscal year severely disrupted business and trade, which led to lower collections of import duties VAT and income tax. He also emphasized that there is an urgent need for reforms in the revenue system to address this growing issue.

This shortfall in revenue collection raises concerns about the country’s economic stability and could potentially create further challenges for the national economy in the coming months.