Sohel Parvez

The economy grew 3.51 per cent in the fiscal year 2019-20, the slowest pace of expansion in three decades, as the pandemic wreaked havoc across the country, according to the final figure of state-run Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS).

Exports declined in July as reduced working days for Eid-ul-Azha and coronavirus containment measures affected the production and shipment of most of the items, including clothing, the main foreign currency earner.

The value-added tax exemption for producing air conditioners, refrigerators and freezers locally has created interest among home appliance manufacturers in Bangladesh as firms are increasingly setting up full-fledged facilities, cutting their reliance on assembling.

From the current fiscal year, taxpayers will be required to pay taxes of up to Tk 5 lakh through automated chalans or electronic transfers.

Despite a bumper yield of Boro paddy in the just concluded season, rice prices are going up, putting increasing pressure on low-income people, many of whom are suffering from income losses for the lockdown and pandemic-induced slowdown of economic activities.

Every year, the last week of November sees a mad rush of individual taxpayers at the tax offices and tax fairs. The reason is obvious: the final deadline to file annual income, expenditure and wealth statements without penalty is November 30, termed as Tax Day.

The government is likely to keep the opportunity to whiten black money without asking any question on the source of fund in the next fiscal year owing to the lobby from various quarters, said officials of the finance ministry.

When Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal unveiled his plans for the next fiscal year, many had expectations that the minister would offer some relief to individual taxpayers and enable them to have higher disposable incomes to tide over the pandemic days.

For around two decades, Swapan Debnath has operated a convenience store called Narayan Varieties in the Keprampara area of Agartala, the capital of the northeastern Indian state of Tripura.

By the time you pick up this newspaper, you might have already been aware of the major changes in personal and corporate tax rates proposed for the next fiscal year.

With the new national budget set to be announced today, The Daily Star caught up with Debapriya Bhattacharya, a distinguished fellow of the Centre for Policy Dialogue, for his take on potential policy changes, how to address the needs of the hour, and various solutions to the Covid-induced economic crisis. Below are the excerpts of the interview.

The government will likely offer a 10-year full tax exemption in order to encourage private investors to establish hospitals outside of four districts, including Dhaka and Chattogram.

The government may make it mandatory for businesses to use formal channels such as banks and mobile financial services for transactions involving more than Tk 50,000 from the next fiscal year.

The government is planning to offer a 10-year tax exemption for agricultural machinery manufacturing in order to encourage investment and support farmers’ growing appetite for machines to increase productivity and cut labour-shortage induced higher production costs.

High earners from fish and poultry hatchery as well as fish farming are likely to lose the privilege of income tax reductions from fiscal 2021-22 as the government plans to introduce a new slab to collect more taxes from fish and poultry farming entrepreneurs.

The government is likely to offer a 10-year tax exemption to investments in manufacturing of home appliance to diversify the country’s manufacturing base and cut import dependence, said finance ministry officials yesterday.

Women entrepreneurs may receive a relief in tax payment on their incomes from businesses in the coming fiscal year, said an official of the finance ministry.

The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has led to great uncertainty over life and livelihoods. As the virus is not going to leave us anytime soon, it will continue to hurt economies and threaten jobs.

The government is likely to keep the tax-free income limit for individual taxpayers unchanged for the next fiscal year of 2021-22, said officials of the finance ministry yesterday.

The production of Boro rice may decline by 1.5 per cent year-on-year to 1.90 crore tonnes in the current harvesting season because of the recent heatwave and pests attacks, according to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).