United News of Bangladesh

The Ministry of Finance has urged the public to remain alert about a fake video that has recently circulated on social media, allegedly using the image and likeness of Finance Adviser Dr Salehuddin Ahmed for promotional purposes. According to an official media statement issued on Sunday (November 16), a vested group has been using Dr Ahmed’s image and an artificially generated voice in a misleading video, which has been promoted on Facebook as part of an advertisement or campaign. The ministry clarified that neither the content nor the claims made in the video have any connection with the Finance Ministry or the Finance Adviser. Read more: Precautionary measures taken to ensure steady food supply: Salehuddin The preliminary assessment suggests that artificial intelligence (AI) technology was used to produce the video by integrating background visuals of Dr Ahmed along with a fabricated voice-over to mislead viewers. The ministry said such misleading content could cause significant public confusion and potentially undermine the social and state dignity of the Finance Adviser. Authorities have already taken necessary steps to have the video removed and to pursue legal measures regarding the matter. The public has been advised not to engage with or rely on unverified audio-visual material circulated online, especially those related to financial issues. The ministry also urged people to verify information before making any financial decisions and to refrain from sharing or promoting suspicious online content. Read more: Pay scale process involves multiple commissions, layers of approval: Salehuddin

Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus on Sunday unveiled the plaque of the newly constructed PKSF (Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation) Bhaban-2 at Khiljee Road (Bir Uttom A N M Nuruzzaman Road), Shyamoli, Mohammadpur. Finance Adviser Dr Salehuddin Ahmed spoke as a special guest at the ceremony chaired by PKSF Chairman Zakir Ahmed Khan.  Managing Director (MD) of Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation (PKSF) Md Fazlul Kader delivered welcome remarks.  Members of the PKSF Governing Body, senior government officials were present.  A documentary highlighting the development activities of the PKSF was screened.  PKSF provides loanable funds to its Partner Organizations (POs).  Currently, funds are being provided under its four mainstream credit programmes (Buniad, Jagoron, Agrosor and Sufolon).  Read: Prof Yunus unveils ‘July Declaration’, says it reflects people’s aspirations Along with financial services, PKSF provides different technical assistances to its POs.  Besides the mainstream programmes, PKSF has been implementing different projects in order to address the diversified needs of the people of the community. The organised members at the grassroots are the life force of PKSF’s operations.  As of June 2024, the aggregated number of members organized through all the Partner Organizations of PKSF stands at 20.0 million, 92.0% of whom are women.  At the same time, the number of borrowers is 15.20 million. Of them, 14.10 million are women (92.76%). As on 30 June 2024, PKSF has more than two hundred POs.  These organizations, picked through a stringent process of assessment, are considered an integral part of PKSF’s operational structure.  They are entrusted with implementing PKSF’s programmes  and projects at the grassroots.  

Finance Adviser Dr Salehuddin Ahmed on Monday slammed a section of economists for their reluctance to see any positive move of the country's economy and urged them to see things with inner eyes. “There are some junior economists, they do not see anything at all, I know them all very well, I have been teaching since 1970, and all of them are my students. If you want to see, you need to have eyes, inner eyes,” he said. The Adviser was speaking at a seminar on activities of income tax, VAT and Customs in the 2025-26 budget and inauguration of the e-return submission for the 2025-26 fiscal. The National Board of Revenue (NBR) organised the programme at its headquarters with its chairman Md Abdur Rahman Khan in the chair. Dr Salehuddin asked the young economists of the country to change their attitude and recognize good things. “It needs an attitude, if we do not want to see, then we will not see anything,” he said. He also admitted that there are many mistakes of this government, but if anyone encourages the good things it brings in a positive move for all concerns. “This is not right that you will tell anything mixing your imaginations. Whatever, we have independence (to say anything), they will continue to say.” Bangladesh’s private sector credit growth dips below 7% amid economic uncertainty  The Finance Adviser urged the mass media to focus on the positive side of the government in a bigger way. “Let’s see the mistakes less, always try to see the glass is half-full rather than half-empty,” he said. Regarding the e-return of the income tax issue, he highly lauded the NBR for this great job. “NBR is the centre point of the revenue, trade and commerce, it is not only to collect revenues, but also facilitate the trade and commerce of the country,” he said. Dr Salehuddin mentioned that time has come to ensure the transparency and accountability of everything. The Adviser, who was the central bank governor during BNP-Jamaat regime, said whatever the law enacted by the government, it might be deviated due to the men behind who will implement that. “Those people might have anger or affection on anything, this has to be averted,” he asked the NBR officials. Dr Salehuddin appreciated the NBR officials for their rigorous tasks to gather revenue for the country saying that everyone lauded NBR, even the Chief Adviser. Meanwhile, the National Board of Revenue (NBR) has made online submission of income tax returns mandatory for all individual taxpayers across the country, except for senior citizens aged 65 years or above, physically incapable or taxpayers with special need subject to submission of certificates, Bangladeshi taxpayers residing abroad and legal representatives of deceased taxpayers. According to the NBR, from August 4, 2025, all individual taxpayers will be able to submit their returns for the 2025-26 tax year online through the NBR’s e-return platform. (www.etaxnbr.gov.bd). The exempted categories will, however, retain the option to submit paper returns if they wish. Any individual taxpayer unable to submit online returns due to registration-related technical problems may, upon submitting a written application with proper justification to the concerned Deputy Commissioner of Taxes, be allowed to file paper returns with the approval of the Additional or Joint Commissioner of Taxes. The deadline for such applications is October 31, 2025. Bangladesh's exports hit $48 billion in FY25, marking 8.58% growth Last year, when NBR introduced mandatory online return submission for taxpayers under certain jurisdictions, employees of all banks, and employees of selected multinational companies, more than 1.7 million taxpayers filed their returns online. Taxpayers can conveniently pay their taxes from home through bank transfer, debit card, credit card, bKash, Rocket, Nagad, or other mobile financial service apps while filing their returns online. To facilitate the process, NBR has deployed dedicated teams to provide round-the-clock assistance through its call center and other electronic support channels to resolve any issues faced by taxpayers in filing their returns.

Finance Adviser Dr Salehuddin Ahmed on Wednesday expressed high hopes that Bangladesh will get a reduced tariff rate for exporting products to the USA. “We are hoping the tariff will be lowered for us,” he said while emerging from the weekly meeting of the Advisory Council Committee on Government Purchase (ACCGP) held at the Bangladesh Secretariat. Bangladesh will import some other essential items from the USA, he said, adding, “We will import some other essential items, but will not divulge the items names right now.” The Adviser also said Bangladesh’s trade deficit with the USA is very low, like USD 6.5-7 billion. Talking about the decision to import wheat from the USA, he said the government wants to rationalise the sourcing of wheat as part of increasing trade volume with the USA. “We have experienced uncertainty from the Russian and Ukraine blocks from where we usually bought wheat, there are problems in the black sea.” He mentioned that negotiations with the USA are still on for the tariff lowering. Regarding the price of wheat import from the USA market, Dr Salehuddin denied making any comment. “The protein level is a little bit higher in the wheat, but not very much higher, the impurity is much lower.” He, however, admitted the price hike for this wheat import from the USA market. “But we will get some advantages and we need to import something for negotiation.” Dr Salehuddin also mentioned that this import will be helpful to reduce the trade deficit. Finance Adviser urges balanced reporting on sensitive policy issues The Finance Adviser said the Commerce Adviser will go to the USA shortly before August 1, the day to impose enhanced tariff rates for Bangladesh. “He will have meetings with the USTR; I am also talking through my channel.” Dr Salehuddin said engaging lobbyists would not bring any positive result at this stage when the decisions are coming out very quickly. Responding to a query to engage business people for this negotiation, Dr Salehuddin said that the business people will not get access in negotiation meetings. “They will have to make noise outside the meeting, that will not make any difference,” he added. The adviser mentioned that it is true that the US private sector is very much important. “I have talked to the US Chamber, they have a good impression of Bangladesh,” he said. US President Donald Trump on July 7 sent a letter to Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus imposing a tariff of 35% on products imported from Bangladesh. In his letter, Trump cited a ‘longstanding and very persistent’ trade deficit between the two countries. "It is a Great Honour for me to send you this letter in that it demonstrates the strength and commitment of our Trading Relationship, and the fact that the United States of America has agreed to continue working with Bangladesh, despite having a significant Trade Deficit with your great Country." "Nevertheless, we have decided to move forward with you, but only with a more balanced, and fair, TRADE. Therefore, we invite you to participate in the extraordinary Economy of the United States, the Number One Market in the World, by far," the letter reads. Trump also  said, "We have had years to discuss our Trading Relationship with Bangladesh, and have concluded that we must move away from these long term, and very persistent, Trade Deficits engendered by Bangladesh's Tariff, and Non-Tariff, Policies and Trade Barriers. Our relationship has been, unfortunately, not Reciprocal." Trump's new 35% tariff announced for Bangladesh is 2% lower than the initial rate announced three months ago, but significantly higher than its close rival Vietnam (in the field of RMG), which recently secured a trade deal with the US under which its goods will be charged a tariff of 20%. 

The government on Tuesday approved several procurement proposals including one for importing a cargo of LNG and another for procuring 30,000 metric tons of urea fertilizer. The approvals came from a meeting of Advisers  Council Committee on Government Purchase (ACCGP) held at the Bangladesh Secretariat with Finance Adviser Dr Salehuddin Ahmed in the chair. As per a proposal from the Energy and Mineral Resources Division, Petrobangla will import one cargo of LNG from the spot market through the international quotation method. Purchase body approves proposals to procure rice bran oil, LNG cargo The LNG will be supplied by Vitol Asia Pte Ltd, Singapore, at a total cost of approximately Tk 531.56 crore with per MMBtu at $12.62. Besides, responding to a proposal from the Ministry of Industries, the Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC) will procure 30,000 metric tons of bagged granular urea fertiliser under the 18th lot from KAFCO, Bangladesh. The total cost is estimated at Tk 146.53 crore with each ton priced at $397.75. The day’s meeting approved two proposals from the Power Division along with one each from the Road Transport and Highways Division and the Local Government Division.

Finance Adviser Dr Salehuddin Ahmed on Tuesday said he is “more or less satisfied” with the revenue collection performance of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) for the fiscal year 2024–25. “The collection this time is moderate, the gap is not that much huge,” he said while briefing reporters after the Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase (CCGP) meeting held at the cabinet division of the Secretariat. On Monday, NBR chairman Md Abdur Rahman Khan while visiting Dhaka Customs House told reporters that the provisional collection of the NBR for 2024-25 fiscal is Tk 3,68,177 crore and it would increase slightly in the final calculation. The National Board of Revenue (NBR) had a revised revenue collection target of Tk 463,500 crore for the 2024-25 fiscal year while it was Tk 4,80,000 crore in the original budget. The Finance adviser said that in the running 2025-26 fiscal the government is trying to change the system of the tax collection to enhance revenue collection. “There will be no leakage, no problem for the businessmen,” he said. He also said that this time the government would not put stress on the collection of tax and VAT rather it will bring changes in the total system. Dr Salehuddin said that the potential of tax collection is huge in Bangladesh as the potential tax base of the country is wide enough. “We failed to utilise it  that resulted in problems in the revenue collection,” he said. NBR officials shaken by government’s recent moves to quell internal unrest The national budget for FY2025–26 set the revenue collection target at Tk5.64 lakh crore which is equivalent to 9% of the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Of the total estimated revenue income of Tk5.64 lakh crore, Tk4.99 lakh crore is expected to be collected through the NBR, while the remaining Tk65,000 crore is projected to come from other sources. Of the toral amount of NBR side, the Taxes on Income,Profits and Capital Gains will be Tk 1,82,001 crore,  Value Added Tax will be Tk 1,88,518 crore, Supplementary Tax will be Tk 68,244 crore, Import Duty Tk 51,438, Export Duty Tk 78 crore, Excise Duty Tk 6,091 crore and Tk 2,630 will be come from Other Taxes segment.

Finance Adviser Dr Salehuddin Ahmed on Monday proposed to continue the opportunity to legalize undisclosed income — commonly referred to as black money — through investment in the real estate sector, including purchasing apartments or flats and constructing buildings. Although the facility remains in place, the tax rates have been significantly increased compared to previous years, as announced in the FY2025–26 budget. According to the proposal, the tax rates for whitening black money through real estate investments vary by location and property size. Key highlights include: Tk 2,000 per square foot for buildings/apartments with a plinth area over 2,000 sq ft in Gulshan, Banani, Baridhara, Motijheel, and Dilkusha areas of Dhaka.Tk 1,800 per square foot for similar properties in Dhanmondi, DOHS, Mohakhali, Lalmatia, Uttara, Bashundhara, Cantonment, Siddheswari, Karwan Bazar, Banasree, Bijoynagar, Wari, Segunbagicha, Nikunja (Dhaka) and Panchlaish, Khulshi, Agrabad, Nasirabad (Chattogram). Govt scraps black money whitening facilityTk 1,500 and Tk 600 per square foot for buildings below 2,000 sq ft in these areas, respectively.For other city corporation areas: Tk 700 per sq ft (over 1,500 sq ft)Tk 600 per sq ft (up to 1,500 sq ft)For district municipalities: Tk 300 per sq ft (over 1,500 sq ft)Tk 250 per sq ft (up to 1,500 sq ft)For other areas of the country: Tk 150 per sq ft (over 1,500 sq ft)Tk 100 per sq ft (up to 1,500 sq ft)Besides, for new building construction, taxes ranging from Tk 50 to Tk 900 per square foot have been proposed, depending on location. But, two conditions have been outlined, which are Black money cannot be legalized if it originates from any criminal activities under existing laws and it must arise from a legitimate source of income, albeit undisclosed. Interim govt decides to stop provision of whitening black money The interim government had previously abolished the black money whitening provision introduced by the Awami League government. That earlier facility allowed legalisation of black money through investment in land, flats, plots, and cash with lower tax rates, which drew sharp criticism for being unfair to compliant taxpayers. Despite recurrent offers by successive governments over the years, the response to black money whitening schemes has remained limited, with critics arguing that such measures undermine ethical taxpayers and encourage illicit financial practices.

Finance Adviser Dr Salehuddin Ahmed on Monday unveiled the proposed national budget for 2025-26 fiscal year, changing VAT and duties on different products, which would lead to fluctuations in the prices of some goods and services. Since the taxes and duties proposed in the budget become effective immediately, the prices of particular goods and services go up if the taxes are increased. The Finance Adviser unveiled the national budget for the 2025–26 fiscal year through the state-owned Bangladesh Television (BTV) and Bangladesh Betar. Prices Up The products and services which would be costlier include – all types of tableware, kitchenware, household goods, hygienic and toiletries including any similar products made of plastic, cotton yarn, yarn made of man-made fibre and other fibres, blades, screws, joints (connectors), nuts, bolts, electric line hardware and pole fittings including nails and bait, mobile phones, elevators, washing machines, microwave ovens and electric ovens, and electric ovens, blenders, juicers, mixers, grinders, electric kettles, irons, rice cookers, multicookers and pressure cookers and construction company services. Mobile and internet costs to fall in new budget Price Down The goods which would be cheaper include sanitary napkins, diapers, packaged liquid milk and ballpoint pens; ice cream, computer monitors, liquefied natural gas (LNG), all types of handicrafts/utensils including plates, bowls made of leaves, flowers or bark, handmade clay utensils and textile grade pet chips.

Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus on Sunday called for urgent and coordinated action from all relevant agencies to ensure Bangladesh’s smooth and timely graduation from Least Developed Country (LDC) status. He made the remarks during a high-level meeting with the LDC Graduation Committee held at the State Guest House Jamuna, where progress on key deliverables was reviewed. “This whole thing is about coordination. We already have the attention and support of investors, funders, and development partners. Now, we must build on the efforts already underway and intensify our collective action to move forward with speed and purpose,” the Chief Adviser said. Emphasising the importance of institutional readiness, Prof Yunus called on all stakeholders to move in unison. “We need a team that functions like firefighters. When the whistle blows, they must respond—fast, efficiently and without delay and stay at the problem until it is solved,” he said. He assured that the Chief Adviser's Office will take an active role in overseeing the process. “The highest office of the government will personally monitor the implementation of all graduation-related initiatives.” Govt urged to move to defer the country's graduation from LDC as it lacks readiness   During the meeting, the LDC Graduation Committee identified five priority actions that must be completed on an urgent basis: Those are: 1. Full operationalisation of the National Single Window with participation from all relevant agencies. 2. Implementation of the National Tariff Policy, 2023 through a clear action plan. 3. Execution of key measures under the National Logistics Policy, 2024, including infrastructure projects. 4. Operational readiness of the Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP) at Savar Tannery Village, and 5. Full-scale operation of the Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) Park in Gajaria, Munshiganj. “These aren’t just routine tasks—we need to see them as key steps, each one helps clear the way for our graduation and builds a stronger, fairer economy for everyone,” the Chief Adviser added. LDC graduation to bring opportunities and some challenges: Commerce Adviser Finance Adviser Dr Salehuddin Ahmed, Chief Adviser’s Special Assistant Dr Anisuzzaman Chowdhury, Chief Adviser's Special Envoy for International Affairs Lutfey Siddiqi, attended the meeting, alongside members of the LDC Graduation Committee and policy advisers.

European Union (EU) Ambassador to Bangladesh Michael Miller on Wednesday said they are working to ensure that the next Bangladesh Parliament will provide comprehensive democratic oversight and accountability in relation to the country’s finances. Speaking at a high-level event in Dhaka to highlight its support to Bangladesh on Public Financial Management (PFM), he reaffirmed the strength of the EU’s partnership with Bangladesh and its commitment to support reforms. The envoy stressed the EU’s role as a steadfast friend and reliable partner of Bangladesh, contributing to stronger institutions and inclusive development. "The European Union stands with Bangladesh at this pivotal moment. We support the delivery of an ambitious reform agenda," said Ambassador Miller. Already, he said, they are helping Bangladesh digitise tax policy management and returns, reinforcing the work of the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General as an independent authority – essential for structural reforms to stick in place. EU lists Bangladesh, 6 other countries as ‘safe’ to speed up migrant returns Speaking as the chief guest, Finance Adviser Dr Salehuddin Ahmed underlined the significance of continued reform and the value of the longstanding partnership between Bangladesh and the European Union in driving change across key governance sectors. The event was attended by Md Nurul Islam, Comptroller and Auditor General of Bangladesh; Md Abdur Rahman Khan, Chairman of the National Board of Revenue; Dr Md Khairuzzaman Mozumder, Secretary of the Finance Division and Md Mizanur Rahman ndc, Secretary of the Bangladesh Parliament Secretariat. Representatives of the three institutions delivered presentations highlighting key achievements, lessons learnt, and plans to sustain reform efforts over the long term. The European Union hosted the high-level event in Dhaka to highlight its support to Bangladesh on Public Financial Management (PFM). The EU-funded programme is playing a key role in improving institutional governance and financial accountability in Bangladesh, said the EU Embassy in Dhaka. The EU is focusing its support on enhancing the performance of three crucial national institutions. Support to the National Board of Revenue has contributed to improving domestic revenue mobilisation. At the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General of Bangladesh, the programme has helped strengthen external audit functions. The Bangladesh Parliament Secretariat has received targeted assistance aimed at enabling more effective support to the Financial Oversight Committees of Parliament in scrutinising public expenditure. The three institutions are central to building stronger public financial management - ensuring that public funds are collected efficiently, audited independently and used transparently. EU underlines need for transparent investment environment