Rights activists warn that this rollback threatens to reverse progress and stall efforts toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The proposed budget for 2025-26 fiscal year is at an opportune moment in Bangladesh's economic and political economy.
Just a day after the interim government proposed the national budget and tax measures for fiscal year 2025-26, leading business chambers expressed significant concern that several measures could potentially impede business growth and affect investment.
If you're planning to import cheap lipstick into Bangladesh anytime soon, think again. The country's interim government, in its latest budget, has quietly declared war on undervalued imports with a series of oddly specific tweaks to customs rules. Among the victims: chocolate bars, lipsticks, eye shadow, and -- wait for it -- inflatable toys.
The positive objectives laid out in the proposed national budget for fiscal 2025–26 are not backed by measures, said the Centre for Policy Dialogue.
Bangladesh’s mobile phone manufacturing industry, once hailed as a potential pillar of the country’s digital ambitions, is bracing for a fresh blow after the interim government proposed a hike in value-added tax (VAT) at the production stage in the national budget for fiscal year 2025-26.
The interim government’s proposal to raise the turnover tax from 0.6 percent to 1 percent from the next fiscal year has sparked an outcry among business leaders, who said the measure could deal a fresh blow to firms already struggling to stay afloat.
LNG import will stand 6.5 million tonnes from 5 million, cut import VAT
Around a dozen banks are currently struggling to repay depositors, eroding public trust
Birupaksha Paul, professor of economics at the State University of New York, described the proposed national budget as “brief and restrained,” marking a departure from the verbose and often overly ambitious budgets of previous years.
The interim government has proposed a 5 percent advance tax on the turnover of cigarette producers, which was 3 percent previously.
The vice chairman of Newage Group of Industries says in his budget reaction
Taskeen Ahmed, president of the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI), acknowledged the government’s intent to ensure macroeconomic stability in the proposed budget.
Says Ashikur Rahman, principal economist of the PRI
In his televised address to the nation, the adviser also proposed changes to duties on different products, which will result in increase and decrease in their prices
Previously, these requirements were mandatory for as many as 43 services.
The proposed national budget for fiscal year 2025-26 does not offer a conducive environment for investment and lacks the direction needed to drive industrial growth, said Anwar-Ul-Alam Chowdhury, president of the Bangladesh Chamber of Industries (BCI).
According to budget documents, the total deficit for FY 2025–26 is projected at Tk 221,000 crore.
Since January 2025, the government has also been distributing essential commodities such as lentils and soybean oil among 57 lakh families using “smart family cards” through the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh.
