9-member committee formed to assess economic losses from NBR protest

A nine-member inter-ministerial committee has been established to evaluate the economic losses caused by recent protests demanding the removal of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) chairman and organizational reforms. The employee strikes and shutdowns brought transactions to a near standstill, disrupting import and export activities.

The announcement came through a notification issued by the Ministry of Finance’s Internal Resources Division on Wednesday (July 16).

The committee members are Syed Robiul Islam, Joint Secretary of the Internal Resources Division, appointed as convener, Deputy Secretary-level representatives from the Finance Division, Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Industry, and Ministry of Shipping (Chittagong Port Authority), Representatives from the National Board of Revenue, BGMEA, and FBCCI and the Deputy Secretary (Administration-1) of the Internal Resources Division will serve as member secretary.

Following incidents of transfer letter destruction, 14 NBR officers have been temporarily suspended.

Committee Mandate:
Assess revenue losses from the two-day closure (June 28-29) of the Customs House in Chattogram.

Evaluate losses across Customs, Excise, VAT, and Tax departments caused by two months of protests.

Quantify disruptions to customs clearance and import-export operations at all land and sea ports, as well as the overall economic impact.

The committee must submit its report within 30 days.

The order was issued in the public interest with approval from the appropriate authorities.