Desk Report:
Commerce Minister Khandaker Abdul Muktadir said that strengthening debt management and increasing tax coverage are the biggest demands of the time in the current economic reality of the country. The current government is determined to meet the expectations of the people and effective steps are being taken to bring the country out of the ongoing crisis.
He said these things as a special guest at the closing ceremony of the seminar titled National multistakholder consultation on Bangladesh graduation readiness assessment at the NEC conference room of the Planning Commission on Sunday (April 5, 2026).
The Commerce Minister said that Bangladesh is currently going through a challenging economic situation, which there is no room to deny. In this situation, it is important to take well-planned initiatives to make the country’s economy orderly and stable.
He mentioned that the debt pressure on the country has increased due to the implementation of some major projects in the past without proper planning and preparation. In many cases, questions remain about the cost and implementation process of the projects, which has created additional pressure on the economy.
Khandaker Abdul Muktadir said, “The loans that have already been taken must be managed properly and more caution must be exercised in taking up new projects in the future. In order to maintain the continuity of development, realistic and fruitful project selection is very important.”
Regarding the tax system, he said, the country’s tax-GDP ratio is not satisfactory and it needs to be increased. However, he emphasized on increasing the tax coverage instead of increasing the tax rate.
He said, “A large part of our economy is still outside the tax coverage. Therefore, we need to increase revenue collection by expanding the tax coverage rather than increasing the tax rate.”
The Commerce Minister also said that the existing debt repayment capacity must be increased by increasing domestic resource mobilization and at the same time, development activities must be taken forward in a sustainable manner.
The event, chaired by Secretary of the Economic Relations Division Md. Shahriar Quader Siddiqui, was attended by UN Under-Secretary-General and Senior Representative of the UN-OHRLLS Rabab Fatima, State Minister for Planning Jonayed Abdur Rahim Saki, and representatives from various relevant sectors.
