Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) in a post budget reaction today said the government has set different targets, including investment, revenue collection and private sector growth as realistic manner in line with GDP. To this end, the civil society think-tank, suggested the government to focus on increasing the revenue GDP ratio, delivering public expenditure, creating good governance in the financial sector and improving expenditure efficacy, reports BSS.
CPD Fellow Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya shared his observation in a presentation titled “An Analytical Perspective on the National Budget for FY1019-20” at a press conference in a city hotel held on Friday. Research Director of the organisation, Dr Khondaker Golam Moazzem delivered welcome remarks while its Senior Research Fellow Towfiqul Islam Khan and Dialogue and Communication Director Anisatul Fatema Yousuf, among others, were present at the press conference.
As per the 7th Five-Year Plan (7FYP), Bhattacharya noted that the country has achieved successes in GDP growth, CPI inflation and public investment. “Although the target for public investment (percentage of GDP) has been met, the total investment scenario is still lagging behind due to low contribution of private investment,” he added.
Despite being the budget for the terminal year of 7FYP, there was no visible urge to make a last stride towards fulfillment of the planned targets, he claimed. Bhattacharya hailed some measures such as revenue collection from non-tax revenue, tax holiday for newly established industries, giving policy support for industrialization and 5 percent rebate on total tax introduced for taxpayers who employs physically challenged persons for at least 10 percent of the workforce.
He also lauded the government for tax exemption on dividend income of the non-resident company, 15 percent tax imposed on stock dividend distributed by any listed company and 15 percent tax imposed on listed company’s retained earnings and reserves (in excess of 50 percent of the paid up capital) .
He said the imposition of additional 5 percent tax on schools, colleges, universities and NGOs who fail to ensure special accessibility facilities for physically challenged persons from the fiscal year 2020-21 (FY21) is good for ensuring education for the backward people. But CPD criticized the government for giving opportunities to invest the undisclosed money in the real estate and economic zone and hi-tech park under the special tax treatment. “The opportunities to invest will not yield much investment but will discourage regular taxpayers and will encourage immoral or illegal activities,” Bhattacharya said.
