Two Decades of Resource Mobilization Through Non-Tax Revenue: Bangladesh Panorama.

Abstract

Despite having the tremendous and steady annual GDP growth exceeding 7 percent for the consecutive four years (FY 2015-16 to FY 2018-19) during the pre-COVID Pandemic era, resource mobilization in Bangladesh economy has been experiencing low and almost stagnant revenue- GDP ratio of around 12 percent for past several years. In the government’s revenue pie, the contribution of non-tax revenue is very insignificant (slightly above 1%) with a decreasing trend in terms of non-tax revenue GDP ratio over the years in the last two decades. The lion’s share of non-tax revenue comes from interest income, administrative fees, receipts from services, non-tax receipts, and non-commercial sales. The study has observed most of the non-tax revenue instruments as volatile with uneven growth fluctuations. The considerable potential for raising non-tax revenues is hampered due to several reasons, namely, absence of central monitoring, lack of sufficient feasible reform measures, inefficient performance of state-owned enterprises, lack of responsible human resources in concerned departments, lack of control mechanism to tackle illicit fund misuse, scarcity of suitable infrastructure, and lack of coordination among several government bodies. Despite the volatility and recent declines, relevant reform initiatives may widen the potential of non-tax revenue to contribute more to the government treasury. Such enhancement may help the government not only in tackling the economic damage due to the COVID-19 Pandemic in the short run but also to achieve the 17 SDGs under the 2030 UN agenda for Sustainable Development in the long run.