Despite a decrease in container handling at Chattogram port, affecting imports of various products due to a prolonged forex crunch, Chattogram Customs House collected Tk 33,155 crore as revenue in the first half of FY2023-24, posting around 10 per cent year-on-year growth.
The customs house has not experienced a significant impact on revenue due to the increased value of most goods while the country’s overall imports and container handling have dropped for the last two years.
However, revenue collection fell Tk 5,475 crore short of target during the July-December period of the current fiscal year. The target was set at Tk 38,630 crore.
Analysing the revenue collection trend, it was seen that the customs house collected Tk 5,472.77 crore, surpassing its target of Tk 4,789 crore set for July by 14.28 per cent. The revenue collection grew by 14.46 per cent year-on-year.
In August, the customs house collected Tk 5,711.68 crore against its target of Tk 6,027 crore, registering a 3.88 per cent growth compared to the same corresponding month in the previous FY.
The customs house collected Tk 5,290.21 crore against the target of Tk 7,050 crore in September, while it grew by 3.62 per cent comparing to the same month in FY23.
Later in October, Tk 5,661 crore was collected as revenue against the target of Tk 6,917 crore with a 15 per cent Y-o-Y growth.
The customs house collected Tk 5,901 crore, growing a 7.70 per cent Y-o-Y growth, against Tk 6,973 crore in November while in December, it collected Tk 5,118.38 crore against its target of Tk 6,910 crore with a 16.64 per cent Y-o-Y growth.
Talking about the revenue collection and import situation, Chattogram Customs House Commissioner Mohammad Fyzur Rahman told The Business Post, “The customs house plays a pivotal role in revenue collection every year and we collect the highest revenue at import stage.”
“If there is no outstanding revenue from some government entities, revenue collection would increase further. Petrobangla owes the customs house Tk 13,189 crore. So, if we could collect the amount, the growth would have increased by an additional 30 per cent.”
“Due to forex crisis, imports have decreased compared to the previous time which, in turn, led to lower revenue growth. But still, there is a growth as compared to the previous period,” he said.
The government set a revenue collection target of Tk 1,16,100 crore at imports for the National Board of Revenue (NBR) for FY24. Then the board set a target of Tk 77,616 crore, which is 67 per cent of total imports stage revenue, for the Chattogram Customs House. The rest amount will be collected by 16 others customs stations.
