Maximum duty levied on diesel

The target of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) customs department for the first four months (July-October) of the current financial year 2023-24 was Tk34,740 crore. However, Tk29,937 crore has been collected during this time with a deficit of Tk4,201 crores. According to the data of NBR customs department, the highest duty has been collected from high speed diesel during the period at the import-export level.

Apart from high speed diesel, other products which are at the top in terms of duty collection include sugar, furnace oil, cement clinker, palm oil, bitumen, coal, stone, betel nut and steel sheet. In last financial year, NBR collected Tk9,457 crore from the top 10 products. At this time of the previous financial year, Tk7,931 crore was collected from the top 10 products in duty collection.

Traders in the respective sectors said that the target duty could not be collected from the import and export of goods due to the dollar crisis, volatility in exchange rates and strict import control through the opening of LCs. They also think that the global economic crisis has played a big role in this regard.

In the fiscal year 2021-22, the deficit in the customs sector was Tk6,576 crore. Then in the last financial year 2022-23, it further increased to more than Tk18,000 crore. On the other hand, in the first four months of the current financial year, this deficit has exceeded Tk4,000 crore. Sector stakeholders see the increase in deficit as dangerous for the macro economy. They say that if the tax collection deficit continues to widen in the coming days, it will increase the pressure on the entire revenue system. At the same time, it will become one of the reasons for increasing the government's indebtedness.

A review of the data showed that 1,196,513 tons of high speed diesel was imported in the first four months of the current financial year. In this, the tax collected was Tk1,705 crores, compared to Tk1,726 crores collected in the same period of the previous financial year. Duty collection on this product has decreased by 1 percent. The government has collected Tk1,290 crore duty from import of 984,211 tons of furnace oil. The government collects 10 percent duty, 15 percent VAT, 2 percent advance income tax and 5 percent advance tax on major fuels like furnace oil, jet fuel, diesel and octane.

Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC), a state-owned sector organization, imports diesel and furnace oil and other petroleum products in the country at the government level. Apart from this, several private sector companies also import large quantities of furnace oil as fuel for power plants.

At the import level, the second highest duty was collected from sugar. Meanwhile, Tk1,678 crores of revenue has been collected from this product. However, compared to the same period of the last financial year, the import of goods decreased by 133,566 tons. Duty collection from cement clinker was Tk1,185 crore, which is Tk97 crore more than the same period of the previous financial year. However, less than 823,912 tons of clinker has been imported.

Tk835 crores of duty has been collected on import of palm oil which is Tk470 crore more than the same period of the previous financial year. The import of bitumen was 377,431 tons more than the same period of last financial year. The amount of duty collected during the period under discussion is Tk776 crore which is Tk507 crore more than the same period of the last financial year.

Due to the increasing production capacity of thermal power plants in the country, 2,257,020 tons more coal has been imported compared to the same period of the last financial year. As a result, the duty collected from fossil fuel products was Tk 584 crore, which is Tk127 crore more than the same period of the previous financial year.

Import of stone has increased by 82 percent. The total duty collected from this product of the construction sector was Tk551 crore, which is Tk82 crore more than the same period of the previous financial year. Betel nut is at the ninth place in this list. A total of 16,333 tons of betel nut has been imported. Against this, the revenue collected was Tk469 crore. In the same period of the previous year, the revenue collected was Tk117 crores.

Besides, the revenue of steel sheet import was Tk413 crores. In the same period of the last financial year, the revenue collected in this sector was Tk568 crores. In addition to the decrease in revenue collection, the import of goods decreased by 69,557 tons.