In his initial budget reaction, President of Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) Barrister Md. Sameer Sattar, said that government has increased tax free income limit up to Tk 3.5 lakh, but considering the present inflation situation it should be increased to Tk 5 lakh.

He also suggested the government to withdraw compulsory Tk2000 tax for a TIN holder to avail certain government services. But to fulfill the higher revenue target he said that it is important to implement automation in the taxation system and widening the tax net. He also said that the budget is big indeed and there is a deficit of Tk261,785 crore but in order to implement such a large budget partnership between NBR and the private sector is more important to make it effective.

He hailed the decision of reducing documentation process for corporate companies during tax returns submission. In this budget corporate tax rate has not been reduced. But Barrister Sattar requested again to reduce at least 2.5% for non-listed companies since our corporate tax rate is high in the South Asian region.

Tariff value and VAT at import of 13 petroleum and relevant products have been withdrawn to curb the energy price which will have a positive impact on our economy, he added.

The government will set a target to borrow Tk132,395 crore from the banking sector which will hamper the private sector credit flow, he said. Besides, he suggested to use ADR to realize NPL. He also suggested full automation in the VAT collection system.

He hailed the decision of reducing VAT on ICT and home appliance sector. He stressed on effective, timely and priority-based implementation of ADP. He said we need to focus on import substitute industries and strengthening backward linkage industries to help the local industrialization. He also recommended to reduce gas price to curb the price of fertilizer for the betterment of the agriculture sector.