The National Board of Revenue (NBR) failed to meet its target despite achieving a 15.25% growth in revenue collection in the first five months (July-November) of the current FY26.
During this period, the revenue collection deficit stood at Tk24,047.55 crore.
According to the NBR’s statistics department, the total revenue collection in the five months was Tk148,976 crore. However, the revenue collection target for the same period was Tk173,235.5 crore.
A sector-wise analysis shows that Tk42,864 crore was collected from the import and export stage during July-November. Tk58,231 crore was collected from local value-added tax (VAT) and Tk47,881 crore came from the income tax and travel tax sector.
According to NBR sources, the VAT sector performed the best in terms of growth—21.97%. The income tax sector grew by 17% and the import-export level duty grew by 5.28%.
However, although the growth was satisfactory, the three main sectors—import duty, VAT and income tax—did not achieve the set target in any case.
According to statistics, the income tax sector had the highest deficit. The deficit in this sector in five months was Tk12,114 crore. The target for income tax collection during this period was Tk59,995 crore.
On the other hand, the import level saw a deficit of Tk8,115 crore against the target of Tk50,979 crore in five months. The deficit in the VAT sector during July-November against the target of Tk62,48 crore stood at Tk3,835 crore.
In November, against the revenue collection target of Tk36,326.49 crore, about Tk29,259 crore was collected. As a result, the deficit stood at Tk11,670 crore in a month.
However, the revenue growth that month was 14.20%.
NBR officials said that due to the slowdown in the country’s trade and commerce, reduced imports and overall economic pressure, revenue collection did not increase to the expected level.
In the current FY26 budget, the total revenue target has been set at Tk564,000 crore, which is about 9% of GDP. Of this, the target has been to collect Tk499,000 crore through the National Board of Revenue and Tk65,000 crore from other sources.
