Bangladesh received a record $8.41 billion in foreign loans in 11 months of current FY2021-22, the Economic Relations Division said on Thursday. At current exchange rate the amount is equivalent to Tk 78221 crore, the highest loan ever in a single fiscal year. The amount is 47 per cent higher than the previous fiscal year. The ERD officials estimate that the foreign debt will exceed $9 billion by the end of the fiscal year on June 30, 2022. After the economic crisis in Sri Lanka, there is a lot of talk about Bangladesh's foreign debt. Also read: Default loans cross over 126 crore: Finance Minister However, economists and analysts are dismissing the comparison between the two countries. They say foreign debt is still below 13 per cent of Bangladesh's GDP. In case of Sri Lanka, it is close to 50 per cent. Economist and researcher Ahsan H. Mansur said, "The leap has been made by receiving more loans than expected from various donor countries and organizations, including the World Bank and the ADB, to offset the effects of the two-year pandemic." Analysis of ERD data shows that in the last FY2020-21, Bangladesh received $7.10 loan assistance from development partners. Before that, in the fiscal year 2019-20, Bangladesh received $7.38 billion foreign loan that was the history of the country till FY 21. Also read: FBCCI seeks loan moratorium till December Foreign debt has been increasing in Bangladesh since the fiscal year 2017-18. In the same year, it jumped to $6.37 billion. Then in the fiscal year 2018-19 it stood at Tk6.54 billion.

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) may miss the fiscal revenue collection target as about half of the revenue collection is yet to be done with only four months left of the current financial year. Latest NBR data shows that the revenue board has collected  Tk1.76 lakh crore in eight months July-February period. It means that Tk 1.53 lakh crore of revenue collection still remaining and the board is far from  FY2021-22 revenue collection target of Tk 3.30 lakh crore. Also read: NBR works for win-win tax in upcoming budget: Finance Minister The official documents showed that the revenue board has to collect Tk38,385 crore in each month in the remaining four months (March-June) which is quite impossible and not happened earlier, the NBR data shows. The NBR has submitted a revised revenue collection plan with a target ofTk 3.05 lakh crore to reduce the gap between the target and achievement at the end of the fiscal year. If the ministry of finance approves the revised revenue collection plan, the revenue board has to collect Tk 32,000 crore per month on an average in the remaining (March-June) period. Despite 10.65 percent growth in revenue collection so far, the NBR may fail to reach the top of the target. Also read: Consider maximum cut in import VAT on edible oil: Cabinet directs NBR The revenue collection has jumped to Tk2.66 lakh crore in last FY2020-21) in place of the target of Tk3.30 crore that later was revised to Tk 3.0 lakh crore. The NBR collects revenue in the form of income tax, travel tax, customs duty; value added tax, supplementary duty (SD) and excise duty.

The allocation for defence in the budget for the FY2021-22 has been increased by Tk28.49 billion fromn the outgoing fiscal year. Tk 376.91 billion has been proposed for the Defense Ministry and other services under the ministry in the national budget for the 2021-22 fiscal. Also read: New budget unveiled with focus on protecting lives and livelihoods An amount of Tk 348.42 billion was proposed for the Defense Ministry in the national budget for outgoing 2020-21 fiscal year. Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal made the announcement during the budget speech at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban on Thursday. He placed the proposed total budget of Tk 6,03,681 crore for 2021-22 - it was Tk 5,68,000 for the outgoing fiscal. Also read: Budget: Govt allocates Tk 587 crore for cultural affairs, activists unhappy Besides, Tk44 crore has been set aside as operating costs of the Armed Forces Division which was Tk41 crore in the 2020-21 budget.

The Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) on Thursday said the national budget for 2021-22 should highlight several areas including ensuring better health facilities for Covid patients and enhancing social safety net programmes for poor, new poor and marginalised people. Besides, raising allocation for employment-enhancing infrastructure development projects and supporting agriculture, SMEs and export-oriented industries for their recovery and thereby keeping the existing jobs should be emphasized in the upcoming budget. The suggestions came up with the webinar of CPD Media Briefing on Recommendations for the National Budget FY2021-22. Also read: Fall in Bangladesh’s export, govt expenditure a big concern: CPD CPD Senior Research Fellow Towfiqul Islam Khan read out the presentation while its Executive Director Dr Fahmida Khatun moderated the function. Towfiqul Islam said the FY22 budget will need to address the weak performance of FY21 budget implementation, the persistence of adverse impacts of the first wave of Covid-19, continuing stagnation in private investment, the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic and failure of the external sector to pick-up as also the medium-term fiscal reform issues with a view to making a recovery sustainable. “The budget for FY22 needs to give equal importance to receiving funding opportunities and ensuring proper use of the funds. Besides, the revenue mobilisation strategy should be designed considering realistic manner, readjustments in tax provisions, enforcement of tax measures and curbing tax evasion.  And implementation of medium-term reform plans should receive high priority,” he added. Towfiqul informed as the country is passing through the second wave of the pandemic, the policymakers, once again are posed with the challenge of maintaining a balance between the lives and livelihoods. The official GDP growth of 5.2% in a pandemic year was not so unsatisfactory, particularly because almost all other countries have experienced much more lower if not negative growth. The government had projected a growth rate of 7.4% for FY21, which was a highly optimistic projection. Also read: Budget traditional, lacks guidelines to address Covid-19 issues: CPD “CPD reiterates the need for an expansionary macroeconomic stance in the budget for FY22 which accommodates the needed additional public spending. The government should put more efforts for higher foreign aid to underwrite the fiscal deficit. Increased budget deficit should be justified by prudent reallocation and re-prioritisation of public expenditure needs in FY22,” he also added. In view of Bangladesh’s LDC graduation in 2026, obligations and compliance requirements as a developing country should be identified, and gradually reforms in the taxation system should be put in place. CPD would like to recommend that NBR introduces taxes for proxies for pollution, by tax region, in alignment with what was mentioned in the “Public Financial Management (PFM) Action Plan 2018-2023 to implement The PFM Reform Strategy 2016-2021” Towfiqul said. He added that the provision of whitening of black/undisclosed money facility through voluntary disclosure of undisclosed income should be discontinued in the budget for FY22. CPD Distinguished Fellow Professor Mustafizur Rahman said during the first wave of the Covid-19, they stated poverty rate increased 35 percent from 20 percent due to the pandemic. So, each poor family should provide Tk8,000 in two times in a year. “If we kept Tk30,000 crore, then it was 1 percent of our GDP. Actually cash transfer is suitable way to assist poor during the pandemic. We have to emphasis on revenue collection otherwise how the government will assist people,” the economist also said. Mustafizur said reducing corruption and ensuring transparency in all sectors in the country is the most important during the disaster. CPD Research Director Dr Khondaker Golam Moazzem said the government has taken different programs to assist people those really appreciable. “But, someone takes the assistance several times and someone does not get that. In this context, the government can support from different NGOs who are working with slum dwellers and other poor for proper distribution,” he also said.