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Published : 07 Apr 2025, 02:09 AM
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) delegation visiting Dhaka will sit with the National Board of Revenue (NBR) aiming to discuss progress in complying with loan conditions and collection status as part of revenue reforms.
On Monday, the IMF team alongside the NBR chief will meet with customs, income tax and value-added tax (VAT) subdivisions of the agency.
The agenda of these discussions include reviewing revenue collection of the ongoing fiscal year, the procedure to boost tax-to-GDP ratio in the upcoming FY2026, the progress of formulating medium and long-term strategies, drafting the digitalisation project of the income tax department, and the online corporate taxes and returns submission deadline.
Bangladesh approached the IMF for support in 2022 amid economic strain.
Following extended negotiations, the global lender approved a loan package of $4.7 billion in early 2023.
The loan programme came with reform conditions, particularly in the financial sector and domestic fiscal management.
The tranches are being disbursed in phases, contingent on the progress made in fulfilling those conditions.
So far, Bangladesh has received around $2.21 billion in three instalments.
The fourth instalment, worth $645 million, was originally scheduled to be released following a review in February.
That meeting, however, did not take place, delaying the approval of the tranche in the process.
Currently, the interim government is hoping to receive both the fourth and fifth instalment of the loan in June.
The IMF’s 11-strong team is currently in Dhaka to assess progress on conditions attached to the fourth and fifth tranches of the loan. They are scheduled to hold a series of meetings with heads of different policymaking departments until Apr 17.
On Monday, the IMF delegation will start by meeting NBR Chairman Abdur Rahman Khan before separate discussions with the three departments.
The key points of scheduled technical discussions about fulfilling projected structural improvements of the NBR are:
- What could be the minimum tax reform in the country?
- Unifying the existing different taxpayer IDs.
- Strengthening tax administration on deduction at source.
On Sunday, the team from IMF held meetings with the Finance Advisor Salehuddin Ahmed at the Secretariat and Bangladesh Bank as well.
Salehuddin said, “The IMF’s main focus is revenue generation,” he added. “Apart from that, we are also discussing what the size of the budget will be, how large the deficit—these are also on the table.”
