Revenues post first ever negative growth

Revenue collection nosedived in the negative terrain for the first time in history as the National Board of Revenue recorded 3.79 per cent negative growth in the just-completed fiscal year 2019-20 amid deepening impacts pf coronavirus outbreak on the economy.

According to the primary data obtained, the revenue board managed to collect Tk2,15,400 crore till June 30, down by Tk8,492 crore from the year-ago period and far from the revised target for the FY20.

The NBR's collections stood at Tk2,23,892 crore in the FY19.

Revenue collection also fell Tk85,100 crore short of the revised target set at Tk3,00,500 crore for FY20.

The original NBR revenue collection target was Tk3,25,600 crore for the fiscal year.

Revenue collection on an average grew by 13 to 14 per cent in the last one decade, with FY19 posting an 11 per cent growth.

Officials said that overall revenue collection might slightly increase by the end of this month when final collection figures, particularly those of VAT, would arrive from the field-level offices.

They said that the negative growth in revenue collection was not unexpected at all based on the ground reality as economic activities, including production, consumption, import and export had witnessed a standstill since the end of March following the general holiday and movement restriction enforced to check the spread of the coronavirus.

Only income tax saw a marginal growth over the past year, while VAT experienced massive declines.

According to the data, VAT collection stood at the highest Tk81,600 crore followed by income tax at Tk73,200 crore and customs duty Tk60,600 crore in FY20.

In the previous FY19, VAT collection stood at Tk87,610 crore, income tax collection at Tk72,900 and customs duty Tk63,382 crore.

VAT and customs duty collections fell by 6.86 per cent and 4.39 per cent respectively while income tax saw a very marginal growth of 0.41 per cent.