Bangladesh Budget 2018-19

Minister suggests lowering prices of liquor

Housing and Public Works Minister Engr Mosharraf Hossain suggests cutting down customs duty on liquor for the sake of flourishing tourism in the country.

No VAT on remittance: NBR

No VAT or tax has been imposed on remittance in the proposed budget for 2018-19 fiscal year, the National Board of Revenue (NBR) says.

Muhith under attack in JS for mollycoddling banks

Opposition MPs continue their scathing attacks on Finance Minister AMA Muhith in Parliament for his 'failure' to restore discipline in the banking sector.

Punish those involved in Bank scam: FBCCI

The Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) demands stern punishment for the people involved in in misappropriating money from the country's banks.

Tax measures to hurt middle class

The proposed budgetary measures for fiscal 2018-19 will benefit the high and low income people, leaving the middle- and lower middle-class, which form the majority of Bangladesh's population, strained, said the Centre for Policy Dialogue yesterday.

Cut corporate tax for all sectors

Leading chambers and trade bodies yesterday criticised the government's 2.5 percent corporate tax cut proposal for only banks and financial institutions in fiscal 2018-19, saying the move would not bring in the desired private or foreign investments.

‘No VAT on online shopping’

Online shopping will be excluded from the purview of 5 percent value added tax (VAT) that was proposed on virtual businesses in the budget for FY 2018-19.

No cheers in tax measures

Every year when the budget is placed in the parliament, Taufiq Hasan, a 35-year-old private sector employee, gets all worked up about which products and services he would have to pay more the following fiscal year.

Bowing to banks

The government is continuing to treat banks with kid gloves instead of going tough on them for the rampant financial irregularities and continued poor judgement.

June 8, 2018
June 8, 2018

Health sector uncared for

Asad Kazi of Bagerhat was advised dialysis for kidney disease. His wife Hawa told doctors that they wanted medicinal treatment as dialysis would cost them Tk 7,000 a month on average.

June 8, 2018
June 8, 2018

Education lacks due attention

As the government had formulated National Education Policy immediately after coming to power in 2009, educationists started advocating for spending at least six percent of the GDP for education.

June 8, 2018
June 8, 2018

DIGITAL SERVICES: When popular, made pricier

Customer will have to pay more for products and service bought from one's mobile phone as the government yesterday introduced a 5 percent value-added tax on those from next fiscal year and also raised the surcharge on handset imports.

June 8, 2018
June 8, 2018

Lofty goals, fragile base

It looks like another repeat story. We had a big budget that failed to achieve its targets. Now we are pushing for a bigger one with higher targets. But with the ground reality remaining the same, are we to see a story foretold for the next year?

June 8, 2018
June 8, 2018

Interest burden getting heavier

Interest payments get the fourth highest allocation, which is also higher than the combined allocation for health, social security and welfare in the proposed budget for 2018-19.

June 8, 2018
June 8, 2018

Jobs there, not right skills

Samidul Haque obtained a BBA degree from a private university a year ago.

June 8, 2018
June 8, 2018

Business-as-usual budget

Finance Minister AMA Muhith presented the FY2018-19 national budget to parliament yesterday. This is a historic event in the sense that it is his tenth consecutive budget that reflects the continuity in fiscal management.

June 8, 2018
June 7, 2018
June 7, 2018

Home loan for public servants, policy effective from 2018-19

Government employees can get loans for the construction of house or purchase of flats anywhere in the country as a policy guideline has already been formulated for providing such loan from the banking system.

June 7, 2018
June 7, 2018

To win votes with bluff: BNP’s take on budget

BNP strongly criticises the budget Finance Minister AMA Muhith placed in the parliament, saying it is imaginary and aimed to gain popularity ahead of the election.