B Mirror Report: Finance and Planning Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury has expressed optimism that the government will achieve its tax revenue collection target for the current fiscal year, saying collection is gradually improving.

He made the remarks while speaking to journalists at the National Board of Revenue (NBR) building in Agargaon, Dhaka, on Tuesday.

The minister said efforts were underway to encourage people to pay taxes and address longstanding problems in the tax system so that taxpayers can meet their obligations without harassment.

“Tax collection is gradually increasing. We have to encourage people to pay taxes. There were problems on both sides of the tax system, and we are trying to resolve them so that people can pay taxes properly without facing harassment,” he said.

Khosru acknowledged that there is still room for improvement, particularly as the problems in the tax system have accumulated over a long period and cannot be resolved overnight.

Asked about lower revenue collection from the Large Taxpayer Unit (LTU) and the cigarette sector, he said he was aware of the issues.

“There is no need to make any decision within a month or one and a half months. The tax system improves gradually. There may be some problems initially, but improvement comes step by step,” he said.

Expressing confidence in meeting the revenue target, the minister said, “Let us wait a little. Hopefully, we will be able to achieve the target that has been set.”

He also said officials concerned were working hard to meet the revenue collection target.

Asked about the World Bank’s forecast that Bangladesh’s GDP growth could be 3.4% in the current fiscal year, Khosru said, “Let us see. We will wait and see.”