The proposed national budget for the fiscal year 2025–26 sets the revenue collection target at Tk 5.64 lakh crore, which is equivalent to 9 per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Finance Adviser Salehuddin Ahmed presented the budget of Tk 7.90 lakh crore, proposing the new revenue target during his televised budget speech on Monday.

Salehuddin said efforts are underway to rationalise tax exemptions and achieve medium-term revenue goals through the continued initiatives of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) that to enhance revenue collection.

Salehuddin also mentioned that the NBR has been strengthened with increased manpower to support these efforts.

He said that steps are actively under consideration to gradually reduce tax exemption facilities expand the tax net and introduce uniform VAT rates on various goods and services where possible.

Of the total estimated revenue income of Tk 5.64 lakh crore, Tk 4.99 lakh crore is expected to be collected through the NBR, while the remaining Tk 65,000 crore is projected to come from other sources.

This marks the first budget presentation by Salehuddin Ahmed in nearly one and a half decades since his tenure as the governor of Bangladesh Bank.

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He noted that the budget size has been kept relatively smaller this year in a bid to keep the deficit under control and in line with prevailing realities. “Amid ongoing political unrest, the new budget aims to bring some ‘relief’ to low-income groups.”

Earlier, the interim government’s Advisory Council approved both the proposed national budget and the Finance Bill for FY2025–26 in a meeting chaired by Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus at his office.