Finance Adviser Dr. Salehuddin Ahmed spoke today as the chief guest at a seminar held in the NEC Conference Room, Dhaka. Photo: ERD

DHAKA, Jan 27, 2025 (BSS) - Finance Adviser Dr. Salehuddin Ahmed has said that increasing the efficiency of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) is essential for the growth of businesses in the country.

At the same time, he has called for increasing the competitiveness of local businesses in light of the upcoming LDC graduation through maintaining labour and environmental compliances. 

The Finance Adviser said this while speaking as the chief guest of a seminar on ‘Reforms in Customs, Income Tax, and VAT Management to Address the LDC Graduation Challenges’ held at the NEC Conference Room in the city’s Sher-e-Bangla Nagar area today. 

Support to Sustainable Graduation Project (SSGP) of the Economic Relations Division (ERD) organized the event, said a press release. 

Commerce Adviser Sk. Bashir Uddin and Chairman of the National Board of Revenue Md. Abdur Rahman Khan were present as special guests. ERD Secretary Md. Shahriar Kader Siddiky chaired the event. 

The Finance Adviser, in his speech, also said that the private sector must be proactive alongside the government in meeting the LDC graduation challenges. He also emphasized on effective implementation of the recently finalized Smooth Transition Strategy (STS).

Commerce Adviser Sk. Bashir Uddin stressed on increasing the efficiency of the local businesses to face the potential challenges of LDC graduation.

At the same time, he also called for bringing the small and medium enterprises under the VAT net and introducing a uniform tax rate system.
 
Chairman of the National Board of Revenue Md. Abdur Rahman Khan emphasized on reducing the tax expenditure.

He also informed that the National Single Window would become fully operational by next March while the entire tax system would be automated very soon. 

ERD Secretary Md. Shahriar Kader Siddiky said that the government is committed to ensure effective and time-bound implementation of Smooth Transition Strategy (STS). 

He also mentioned that a series of stakeholder consultations like this will be organized for successful implementation of the STS.  

Chairman of Chattogram Port Authority Rear Admiral S M Moniruzzaman, Members of NBR AKM Badiul Alam, Senior Vice President of Dhaka Chamber of Commerce & Industry Razeev H Chowdhury; and President of Bangladesh Freight Forwarders Association Kabir Ahmed spoke at the event as panelists.

Members of NBR Hossain Ahmed and Mohammad Belal Hossain Chowdhury as well as the Vice Chairman of the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) Md. Anwar Hossain were also present at the seminar. 

Private sector representatives participating in the seminar called for deferment of LDC graduation for a few years. This, they said, would give Bangladesh enough time to prepare for LDC graduation. 

Former Member of Bangladesh Trade and Tariff Commission (BTTC) and Component Manager of SSGP Dr. Mostafa Abid Khan delivered the keynote presentation at the event.

Referring to the findings of the World Development Indicators 2023 published by World Bank, Dr. Khan pointed out that the cost of import and export in Bangladesh is significantly higher than India, Malaysia, Vietnam and Singapore. 

The same World Bank study also found that the efficiency of customs clearance process, competence and quality of logistics services; as well as the quality of trade and transport related infrastructure in Bangladesh are relatively inferior compared to those countries.  

Highlighting the findings of various impact assessments carried out in recent times, Dr. Khan said that if the time for customs clearance at the local ports could be reduced by a day, the country’s overall exports would increase by 7.4 percent. He also pointed out that easing the customs procedures could boost the competitiveness of domestic products by at least 5 percent.

Additional Secretary of ERD and Project Director of SSGP A. H. M. Jahangir delivered the welcome address of the event. 

It is notable that Bangladesh is scheduled to graduate from LDC status on 24 November 2026. Following LDC graduation, the country will gradually loose access to International Support Measures (ISMs) including duty-free and quota-free market access in some major export markets, as well as opportunities for providing export subsidies. 

In this context, major reforms in income tax, VAT management, and customs procedures are expected to boost the trade competitiveness of the country.
 
The recently finalized STS has also outlined various priority actions related to increased revenue mobilization; timely implementation of National Tariff policy 2023; immediate rollout of the National Single Window (NSW); fulfilling commitments under the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement; enhancing the capacity of land and seaports.
  
The importance of revenue mobilization as well as reforms in tax policy and customs clearance procedures have also been repeatedly emphasized in various studies, seminars, workshops and Focus Groups Discussions conducted by the Support to Sustainable Graduation Project of ERD in recent years.
 
In this context, the seminar was organized to develop a roadmap for implementing the customs, VAT and income tax related recommendations coming from STS as well as various LDC graduation related seminars, workshops and FGDs. 

Senior officials from government ministries, agencies and research institutions, representatives from relevant trade associations and think tanks attended the event.