The amount of eligible Zakat assets in Bangladesh is around Tk 10 lakh crore, from which at least Tk 25,000 crore could be collected annually, show a number of reports by government and private sector research firms – including one from the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS).
Analysts believe that it is possible to bring the country’s poverty rate to zero in Bangladesh in the next 15 years if the potential Zakat is collected and distributed properly.
They pointed out that if zakat can be collected properly, there will be no need to allocate lakhs of crores of Taka in the budget for social security safety net every year. However, the Zakat Board collected only Tk 10 crore in 2023.
But analysts believe that the collection should be hundreds of crores of taka.
Speaking to The Business Post, ex-chairman of Social Islami Bank (SIBL) Md Rezaul Haque said, “There are various obstacles in collecting Zakat. If it was properly collected and distributed, poverty would be completely eliminated.
“It is noted that in the budget of FY24, Tk 1,26,272 crore was allocated to the social security safety net. In FY23 such allocation was Tk 1,13,576 crore.
Besides, according to the Bangladesh Bank, at the end of 2023, the number of bank accounts which held Tk 1 crore or above was 1,16,908; and the amount of money in such accounts was Tk 7,41,000 crore.
This amount was over 42 per cent of total bank deposits in that year.
In this context, the former president of Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce & Industries (FBCCI) AK Azad said 100 people in the country own thousands of crores of Taka. But if everyone pays Zakat correctly, then there will be no poor people in the country. We need proper management to collect Zakat.
Currently, the poverty rate in Bangladesh is 18.7 per cent, and the extreme poverty rate is 5.6 per cent.
Zakat Board
Bangladesh Zakat Board was formed in 1982 through an ordinance. Zakat payment was not made compulsory under the said Act. Instead, people were encouraged to pay Zakat on a voluntary basis.
A 10 per cent income tax rebate has been kept if Zakat is paid to the Zakat Board. The government enacted a new Zakat Act [Zakat Fund Management Act, 2013] in 2023 with some amendments and modifications to the said Act.
According to Zakat Board information, it has collected Tk 10 crore Zakat funds in 2023.But the board believes that Tk 30,000 crore was exchanged in 2023.
Survey on Zakat
Although there is no study about Zakat collection by the government level, some studies have been conducted by private research organisations.
A survey was conducted in 2022 under the leadership of M Kabir Hasan a Professor of the University of New Orleans in the USA. According to the survey, the potential of zakat assets in Bangladesh was Tk 1 lakh crore in 2021.
In this context, Kabir Hasan told The Business Post that Zakat is not considered a source of revenue in the country's economy despite its huge potential. There is currently no planning about such potentiality.
This researcher believes that only government initiatives can collect the potential amount of Zakat properly.
Zakat and poverty elimination
Experts believe that giving nominal aid in the name of Zakat will not bring its socio-economic benefits. They added that one of the objectives of Zakat is to alleviate poverty by making the poor self-reliant. It is one of the effective instruments of the social security safety net.
The Center for Zakat Management (CZM) is working with this objective. Member of the governing body of the institution and former chairman of NBR Muhammad Abdul Mazid said that inequality in the country is increasing because of the weakness of Zakat management.
CZM AGM Weis Khan Nur Sohel said, “Poverty alleviation is possible if structural coordination, monitoring and supervision of the country's development plan, and institutional management of Zakat can be done appropriately in accordance with the state and religious policies.
“In that case no help from any foreign organization will be required.”
