National Budget FY 2017-18
Reduce VAT to tolerable level: BNP
BNP urges the government to reduce Value Added Tax (VAT) to a tolerable level in the proposed budget for 2017-18 fiscal year. The 15% VAT proposed in the budget is the highest among South and South-East Asian countries, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir.
Excise duty not new, it has been increased slightly: Muhith
Defending his proposal to impose tax on bank deposits, Finance Minister AMA Muhith says it has been slapped for several years and the tax rate will increase slightly in the next fiscal.
VAT Pressure on Middle Class / Worries there though Muhith assures
Finance Minister AMA Muhith denied that any of the tax hikes would affect the lives of the middle and lower middle class.
Regular taxpayers ‘Kor Bahadurs’
Taxpayers who are paying back to the government coffer for a long time will be recognised as ‘Kor Bahadurs’ – meaning champions of tax, Finance Minister AMA Muhith proposes.
Mobile handsets to be costlier
Mobile handsets device purchasing cost will increase in the next fiscal 2017-18 as Finance Minister AMA Muhith proposes to hike the customer duty of mobile handsets importing to 10 percent from existing 5 percent.
Budget 2017-18: Incentive planned for leather industry
The leather industry, the second largest export segment of Bangladesh, will be receiving incentives from the government, as proposed in the budget for 2017-18.
Budget won’t protect poor: CPB
Communist Party of Bangladesh in an instant reaction rejects the proposed national budget for FY 2017-18 and says it will not protect the poor people’s interest.
Prices up, prices down
Finance Minister AMA Muhith proposes changes to duties on different products, which will result in increase and decrease in their prices.
Double budget allocation in ICT
Finance Minister AMA Muhith proposes to double the allocation in Information and Communication Technology Division for helping the digitalisation process.
Budget 2017-18: Green RMG factories to get tax benefits
Ready-made garment factories with internationally-recognised green standards will enjoy tax benefit, Finance Minister AMA Muhith proposes in the budget.
Uniform VAT to be 15%
Finance Minister AMA Muhith proposes that the uniform VAT will be 15 percent in the fiscal 2017-18.
Nat’l highway to get 4 lanes with separate way for slow vehicles
The government is to upgrade 373Km of the national highways to four lanes with a provision for separate service lanes for slow moving vehicles in FY 2017-18.
Budget 2017-18: Education gets a boost
Finance Minister AMA Muhith proposes for an allocation of Tk 50,432 crore in the budget for 2017-18 fiscal for education, which is 12.6 percent of the total budget size.
Budget 2017-18: ‘Ambitious’ budget focused on VAT
Finance minister places his 11th budget at the parliament with a key focus on VAT. Amounting to over a staggering Tk 4 trillion, the growth has been projected to be 7.4 percent under steady inflation rate. The major attention has been attached to power, education and ICT sectors.