A simple motorbike accident by a teenage boy in the capital’s Mirpur has been turned into an extortion case against eight school and college students for reasons the victim, his family and witnesses cannot explain.

The government can expect to save up to Tk 5,500 crore for the austerity measures taken so far to preserve the foreign exchange reserves and tame inflation, according to the finance ministry.

The regular taxpayers will feel discouraged if there remains an option to whiten money by paying only 7 per cent tax, said Humayun Rashid, president of IBFB.

Lawmakers of both the ruling and the opposition parties heavily criticised Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal yesterday for his budget proposal of legalising laundered money for a 7 percent tax.

Simplification of tax administration and proper infrastructure development are needed to attract more foreign direct investment (FDI) in Bangladesh, analysts said in a roundtable today.

Achieving the huge proposed budget for fiscal year 2022-23 in the post-pandemic period is a huge challenge for the government but it is not impossible, said Md Mamunur Rashid, president of the Institute of Cost and Management Accountants of Bangladesh (ICMAB).

The former Bangladesh Bank governor also stressed the need for cutting unnecessary spending and allocating more for social safety, education and health.

The government has made a timely proposal to impose 12 per cent tax on general industries and 10 per cent on green industries, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB) said today.

The top IT trade body Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS) today said the proposed budget did not reflect the industry’s demands for the development of the sector.

The budget for the next fiscal year will benefit both the poor and the business community alike of Bangladesh, said Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal today.

The leading chambers and trade body leaders have praised the government for fixing the priority areas of development, but they also said controlling inflation will be biggest headache for the Sheikh Hasina administration in the next fiscal year.

The budget for the upcoming fiscal year has appeared to be insufficient in terms of needed measures, incomplete in terms of outlining strategies and inadequate in terms of addressing the present macroeconomic challenges, said the Centre for Policy Dialogue today.

Enhancing private sector investment, employment generation, revenue shortfall and financing are some of the challenges of the proposed budget, said Rizwan Rahman, president of the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI).

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has made a number of recommendations for the development of women in the proposed budget for 2022-23 fiscal. The budget has made recommendations for the future of women's development.

From the next fiscal year, the tax authority is going to introduce a provision of disconnecting utility services of taxpayers for their failure to pay undisputed revenue demand of the government.

The move aims at making ‘Made in Bangladesh’ a global brand.

In the proposed tax measures, the tax authority wants to impose 50 per cent tax on the interest earnings if the account holder fails to submit proof of submission of tax returns.

People may have to spend more for taking meditation services from the next month as the finance minister today recommended withdrawing the VAT exemption benefit the services have been enjoying since 2016-17.

The prices of specialised wheelchair for the physically challenged may fall in the next fiscal year as the finance minister today proposed abolishing all kinds of taxes at the import stage of the item.

Coffee prices may rise as the finance minister today proposed imposing 20 per cent supplementary duty on processed and ready-to-consume coffee.