The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB) on Thursday hailed the proposed national budget for fiscal year (2022-2023).
"We congratulate the present government of Bangladesh, led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, on the announcement of 15th consecutive budget for the FY23," said the ICAB in a statement.
Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal placed a Tk 6,78,064 crore proposed budget for the next fiscal year, which is equivalent to 15.2 per cent of GDP.
The ICAB also noted that the proposed budget is business friendly and will help Bangladesh to upgrade gradually to the position of higher middle income group.
In spite of post pandemic situation, Russia-Ukraine War, and other global uncertainties, the ICAB said the government has taken a challenge of implementing development budget of Tk 246,066 crore which is very encouraging step to move forward for a developing country like us.
"Additional budget in the infrastructure sector is a commendable step taken by the government," it said.
The ICAB said expanding the tax net is very much necessary for improving the tax GDP ratio while the government should take further steps to expand the tax net.
"We believe that the joint initiative of NBR and ICAB in implementing Document Verification System (DVS) will facilitate to achieve the targeted revenue. We also believe that this initiative will bring about transparency and accountability in financial arena," it said.
The release said that tax reform may also contribute for improving tax GDP ratio and increasing revenue collection.
However, the ICAB expressed concern that despite substantial inflationary pressure, tax free limit of individuals remained unchanged.
Besides, imposition of capital gain tax from investment in government securities will increase the tax burden of the tax payers.
