Speakers at a seminar on the economy highlighted employment generation leading to increasing revenue for the government, ultimately increasing the capacity of government expenditure.
They made the remarks while speaking at a seminar on “Fiscal Challenges for Post-Election Government" held at the BDBL Building in Karwan Bazaar on Wednesday.
Dr. Masrur Reaz, Chairman and Founder of think tank Policy Exchange Bangladesh, emphasized total digitalization of the National Board of Revenue and encouraged cashless purchasing opportunities. This will help to increase indirect revenue collection and increase the tax-GDP ratio.
He also suggested that a realistic tax target be set, stopping political intervention in tax policy level, and stopping discrepancies of tax officials in harassing people who pay taxes.
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Rashed Al Mahmud Titumir, Professor of Economics and former Chairman of the Department of Development Studies, Dhaka University, said that the elected government has to create equal opportunity for all, especially employment of youths, who could contribute more in the economy.
He also favours increasing the salaries of government employees so that they work harder to provide government services.
He emphasized five things to make Bangladesh a trillion-dollar economy. These are: Justice in financial opportunity, budget discipline, restructuring the economic sector, creating employment scope, and ensuring security and sustainability for all.
If these five things happen, the journey of Bangladesh to a trillion-dollar economy would be very smooth.
Economist Jyoti Rahman gave a presentation on the topic. Masud Khan, Chairman of Unilever Bangladesh, Snehashis Barua, Chartered Accountant, Dr. Shafiqur Rahman, Executive Director, Bangladesh Research Analyze Information Network (BRAIN), among others, spoke at the event.
Fahim Mashroor of Voice for Reform moderated the event.
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