BNP urges the government to reduce Value Added Tax (VAT) to a tolerable level in the proposed budget for 2017-18 fiscal year. The 15% VAT proposed in the budget is the highest among South and South-East Asian countries, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir.

Defending his proposal to impose tax on bank deposits, Finance Minister AMA Muhith says it has been slapped for several years and the tax rate will increase slightly in the next fiscal.

Finance Minister AMA Muhith denied that any of the tax hikes would affect the lives of the middle and lower middle class.

Taxpayers who are paying back to the government coffer for a long time will be recognised as ‘Kor Bahadurs’ – meaning champions of tax, Finance Minister AMA Muhith proposes.

Mobile handsets device purchasing cost will increase in the next fiscal 2017-18 as Finance Minister AMA Muhith proposes to hike the customer duty of mobile handsets importing to 10 percent from existing 5 percent.

The leather industry, the second largest export segment of Bangladesh, will be receiving incentives from the government, as proposed in the budget for 2017-18.

Communist Party of Bangladesh in an instant reaction rejects the proposed national budget for FY 2017-18 and says it will not protect the poor people’s interest.

Finance Minister AMA Muhith proposes changes to duties on different products, which will result in increase and decrease in their prices.

Finance Minister AMA Muhith proposes to double the allocation in Information and Communication Technology Division for helping the digitalisation process.

Finance Minister AMA Muhith proposes to increase the VAT-free turnover ceiling to Tk 36 lakh from Tk 30 lakh in the ‘VAT and Supplementary Duty Act 2012’, which is scheduled to be implemented from July 1.

Ready-made garment factories with internationally-recognised green standards will enjoy tax benefit, Finance Minister AMA Muhith proposes in the budget.

Finance Minister AMA Muhith proposes that the uniform VAT will be 15 percent in the fiscal 2017-18.

The government is to upgrade 373Km of the national highways to four lanes with a provision for separate service lanes for slow moving vehicles in FY 2017-18.

Finance Minister AMA Muhith proposes for an allocation of Tk 50,432 crore in the budget for 2017-18 fiscal for education, which is 12.6 percent of the total budget size.

Finance minister places his 11th budget at the parliament with a key focus on VAT. Amounting to over a staggering Tk 4 trillion, the growth has been projected to be 7.4 percent under steady inflation rate. The major attention has been attached to power, education and ICT sectors.