Rejaul Karim Byron

Revenue collection crashed more than 55 per cent in April, revealing the massive hit the Bangladesh economy has taken from the coronavirus outbreak in the country.

The government appears to have paid heed to the growing calls for a bigger health budget, with its allocation from the annual development programme soaring 28.92 per cent next fiscal year, the highest amongst the 12 sectors.

The government may increase the tax-free income limit for individual taxpayers after five years in fiscal 2020-21 to give relief to people in the lower-income bracket such that they can manage the economic hardship brought on by the pandemic better, said officials of the finance ministry yesterday.

Bangladesh’s plan for significant coal- and LNG-fired power plant additions will cause substantial overcapacity, with major financial implications, said a new study.

The National Board of Revenue plans to introduce e-payment for value-added tax on a pilot basis from June to automate the VAT system and administration, ease the hassles faced by businesses and reduce the time and the cost of compliance.

The country’s import decreased 62 per cent year-on-year to $1.95 billion in April as industrial production has almost come to a halt due to the ongoing shutdown to tackle the spread of the coronavirus.

With the pandemic-induced lockdown battering livelihoods and choking cash flow across the board, the tax authority is working to give a breathing room to businesses and individual taxpayers in the low-income bracket.

Bangladesh is set to request the International Monetary Fund (IMF) within a week to extend $700 million in emergency financing to help the country avoid being overwhelmed by the coronavirus pandemic.

In an uncharacteristic move, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) and the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) have agreed to provide budget support to Bangladesh to meet its growing expenditure needs in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, which has firmly taken hold in the country.

Development spending in Bangladesh decelerated in April on the back of the countrywide shutdown enforced since March 26, with the government managing to use Tk 8,136 crore during the month, down 23 per cent from the previous month.

The annual development programme (ADP) is set to become a big casualty of the resource reshuffling that the government is set to deploy to bankroll the massive stimulus packages announced to jumpstart the economy once the rogue coronavirus has been tamed.

The government may introduce a coronavirus tax on tobacco products and several luxury goods while giving tax cuts to internet services.

The cabinet yesterday decided to bring in changes in direct and indirect tax laws with the view to thwarting taxpayers from getting slapped with a penalty for their failure to comply with deadlines owing to the shutdown.

The coronavirus pandemic will drive an additional 13 million people into poverty, cut 3.7 million jobs, take budget deficit to as high as 7.5 per cent and inflict a minimum revenue loss of 2 per cent of GDP in Bangladesh as the killer bug is wreaking havoc throughout the economy, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has warned.

Bangladesh has decided not to avail the temporary debt service suspension facility extended by the Group of 20 major economies as the country is capable of meeting its current obligations despite the coronavirus pandemic hitting the economy hard.

The World Bank has decided to free up funds from three ongoing but slow-moving projects and relaxed conditions to allow Bangladesh to secure $250 million in budget support as part of its efforts to help the country stave off financial ruins.

The government is gunning for an 8.5 per cent GDP growth next fiscal year in the hope the economy would be springing back to a higher expansion trajectory once the coronavirus outbreak has been quelled.

The government is mulling over leveraging the state-run lenders’ vast branch network to implement a major portion of the stimulus packages.

Canadian company Niko Resources was negligent and thus liable for the blowout that took place at Chhatak gas field in Tengratila of Sunamganj in January 2005 while Niko’s Bangladeshi subsidiary was carrying out drilling operations there, a World Bank tribunal found.

Government agencies and banks have almost completed their preparations to implement 18 stimulus packages worth Tk 95,619 crore to tackle the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic.