The committee was sitting at the 25th meeting presided over by Chairperson Dr Md Abdur Razzaque at the Parliament on Wednesday
The standing Committee on Finance Ministry on Wednesday urged the government to increase revenue collection as Bangladesh’s tax revenue to GDP ratio is the lowest among South Asian countries.
The committee was sitting at the 25th meeting presided over by Chairperson Dr Md Abdur Razzaque at the Parliament on Wednesday.
The committee said that the tax collection as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is the lowest in the South Asian Countries and there has been no visible improvement in the last 10 years.
“In expediting the economic development of the country, there is no alternative to increasing tax revenue collection,” they said. Taking lessons from the other countries, Bangladesh has to introduce pilot projects to widen tax and Valued Added Tax (VAT) area, the committee recommended.
In the last 10 years, Bangladesh’s average tax to GDP ratio was 10.3%, which is 19.6% in India and Nepal 19.6%. In developed countries the average tax to GDP ratio is 35.8%.
The committee also urged banks to bring the interest rate down to a single digit as the country’s investment is being hindered due to higher interest rates. They also asked banks to reduce reduce hidden charges in credit cards.
Meanwhile, the committee also warned Bangladesh Bank to be very careful about security after news of the recent incident of gold scams at bank’s vault surfaced.
Standing Committee Chairperson Md Abdur Razzaque said the gold in Bangladesh Bank’s vault is safe because it is being monitored by 42 CCTV cameras.
Standing Committee member Md Abdul Wadud and Bangladesh Bank Governor Fazle Kabir were present at the meeting.
Source: Dhaka Tribune.
