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NBR fears missing duty target

Easter Refinery yet to pay Tk 407.46cr revenue

UNB, Dhaka
The National Board of Revenue sought intervention of the finance minister in its bid to realise Tk 407.46 crore overdue import duty from Eastern Refinery Limited, as the state-owned enterprise defaulted on the payments.
NBR Chairman Dr Nasiruddin Ahmed on October 10 sent a summary to Finance Minister AMA Muhith, seeking his help in collecting the big chunk of revenue.
In the summary, the NBR chairman said that the lion's share of the import duty of Chittagong Customs House (Import) came from the duty on petroleum and petroleum products.
And the government-owned ERL is the only agency that can import crude petroleum.
The NBR chairman in his note to the finance minister said that till August 2009, the dues from the ERL of Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) isTk407.46 crore.
He said that as the ERL is not showing any interest in paying the amount, the revenue-collection agency of the government is now in trouble to fulfill its target from duty from import level.
“This unrealised amount of the ERL will cast a negative effect on the revenue collection and fulfilling the target of 2009-10 fiscal remained uncertain,” said the NBR chief.
Giving instance of the adverse effect of the unrealized amount from the ERL, which is under BPC management, Nasir said in 2008-09 fiscal year the target of NBR to collect import duty from import level was Tk 21,322 crore, while the collection was Tk 20,856.76 crore.
That means the deficit wasTk 465.22 crore and the amount of unrealised import duty of the ERL was Tk 440.18 crore.
The summary says if the ERL did not pay the money, it would be a very difficult task for the NBR to reach the target for this fiscal.
The target for this fiscal isTk 23,236 crore.
“For its failure to reach the target, NBR has to explain it accountability to the government and the failure also affects the image of the NBR,” he said.
The chairman mentioned in the summary that till April 09, 2009, the due from the BPC was Tk 1074.74 crore, which now stands down at Tk 407.86 crore.
“The role of you (finance minister) helped us a lot in realizing the money,” the NBR chairman said in the summary’ to the finance minister for a fresh help.
Finance Minister AMA Muhith in reply to the summary said that he could write to the state minister for energy and asked the NBR chairman to prepare a draft letter in this connection.
The government in the 2009-10 fiscal budget worth Tk 113,819 crore has fixed a total of Tk 61,000 crore to come from the NBR in revenues.