Bangladesh Bank has cleared US$ 1.42 billion in liabilities to the Asian Clearing Union (ACU) for the months of May and June.
Following this transaction, Bangladesh’s gross reserve stands at $26.171 billion, while reserves as per the IMF’s BPM6 formula are at $20.467 billion as of Tuesday.
Md Mezbaul Haque, executive director and spokesperson of Bangladesh Bank, confirmed the payment.
The ACU, headquartered in Tehran, Iran, is an international transaction settlement system. It facilitates transactions between Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Iran, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, with respective central banks settling import amounts every two months.
The revenue board has estimated Tk 113 billion in additional value-added tax (VAT) in fiscal year 2024-25, riding on a fiscal measure having no new exemption for businesses.
A big chunk has been projected from the tobacco sector, followed by at-source VAT on retail businesses, telecoms sector and excise duty from bank depositors.
The National Board of Revenue (NBR) made this estimate for the Cabinet during budget exercise.
Nearly 50 per cent or Tk 60 billion of the additional revenue has been projected from the tobacco sector following a hike in all tiers of cigarette.
From cellphone users, Tk 18 billion has been estimated in VAT in FY 2025.
In the budget, the VAT wing has imposed additional taxes on talktime and internet usage.
With a hike in excise duty from well-off bank depositors, the government may collect Tk 10 billion in taxes.
The beverage sector will contribute Tk 2.0 billion in tax revenue while ice-cream and brick businesses Tk 500 million each and air-condition and refrigerator Tk 2.0 billion each.
Apart from other revenue-potential sector, according to a senior VAT official, an additional Tk 20 billion in VAT has been estimated from a new fiscal measure on VAT deducted at source.
From 01 July 2024, all types of businesses having Tk 100-million annual turnover each have to deduct VAT on procurement of any type of goods and service.
Earlier, such provision was mandatory for government, semi-government and limited companies only.
The VAT official said VAT collection from proprietorship businesses, boutique houses and beauty parlours is a major challenge for the NBR, which may be addressed through the fiscal measure.
“From this FY, businesses procuring goods from retail or any other form of supplier would be held responsible for payment of VAT,” he added.
Initially, some 3000 businesses would come under the purview of this new measure, he added.
Currently, businesses availing 42 types of services are responsible to deduct VAT at a rate ranging from 5.0 per cent to 15 per cent.
VDS is one of the largest sources of the NBR’s revenue.
In FY23, a total of Tk 560 billion or half of the VAT has been collected at source from different entities.
For FY25, the government has set a VAT collection target worth Tk 1.77 trillion, expecting 17.21 per cent growth over the revised target for current fiscal year.
The official said uniform VAT rate at 15 per cent has been implemented in many products and businesses this fiscal in a bid to phase out from the distorted multiple rates of the VAT system.
The main objective of the government is to mobilise domestic revenue by cutting VAT exemption that eats up 3.26 per cent of GDP (gross domestic product).
A recent report on VAT expenditure has outlined the areas and VAT expenditure in Bangladesh.
