Finance Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury sets out a three-pronged economic-resilience strategy for protecting Bangladesh from global economic turbulence and the fallouts from continuing instability in the Middle East.
While elaborating on the Three-R strategy in parliament on Wednesday, he also unveiled government plans for simultaneously broadening the domestic tax base to strengthen public finances.
In written responses to queries, the minister outlined what he described as a "Three-R Strategy" -- Recovery and Stabilization, Restoration, and Reconstruction for Acceleration -- designed to safeguard macroeconomic stability, diversify exports and enhance the competitiveness of the economy.
The strategy that the finance minister outlined in his budget speech delivered on June 11 last comes as the government is facing a series of external challenges, including volatile energy prices, uncertainty in global trade.
To ease such a bundle of risks, the government is pursuing new labour agreements with Russia, Portugal, Romania, Brazil, Greece, Serbia and North Macedonia, while also seeking to reopen labour markets in Malaysia, Oman, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait.
The government will maintain its 2.5-percent cash incentives for remittances sent through formal channel and continue efforts to bolster foreign-exchange reserves through export diversification, tighter controls on non-essential imports and exchange-rate stability.
The finance minister also says Bangladesh was preparing contingency measures to offset potential increases in global fuel, liquefied natural gas (LNG) and fertiliser prices, including diversifying energy sources, accelerating domestic gas exploration and maintaining subsidies where necessary.
Alongside the broader economic strategy, Chowdhury announces plans to bring 16 additional business sectors under a fixed value-added tax (VAT) regime from the 2026-27 fiscal year as part of efforts to increase revenue collection.
The sectors include groceries, garment and clothing retailers, confectionery businesses, cosmetics shops, household plastic and ceramic goods sellers, shoe retailers, hardware stores, decorators, mobile phone and electronics retailers, paint and sanitary fittings businesses, tile dealers, corrugated-sheet retailers, rod and cement traders, furniture stores, beauty parlours, sweet shops and restaurants.
According to the finance minister -- who has placed an upscale Tk 9.38-trillion national budget in parliament for the forthcoming fiscal year -- VAT collections reached Tk1.42 trillion during the fiscal year 2024-25.
In a separate parliamentary response, the minister said it remained difficult to determine the precise amount of money illegally transferred abroad from Bangladesh because of the absence of sufficient and internationally accepted data.
However, citing findings from the White Paper Committee established by the interim government, he notes that Bangladesh experienced an estimated $234 billion in illicit financial outflows between 2009 and 2023 -- an average of roughly $16 billion annually.
The committee has estimated that the outflows were equivalent to 3.4 per cent of GDP in fiscal year 2023-24, nearly one-fifth of the country's combined export and remittance earnings, more than 11 per cent of national savings and almost double the volume of net foreign aid and foreign direct investment inflows.
The figures highlight the scale of the challenge facing the government as it seeks to restore confidence in the economy, strengthen foreign-exchange reserves and improve fiscal sustainability amid a turbulent global environment.
The government has initiated a process to engage international legal firms to help recover money linked to defaulted loans created through irregularities and corruption in the banking sector, Finance Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury told Parliament on Wednesday.
Responding to a question from Kurigram-1 MP Anwarul Islam, the finance minister said the government signed non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) with nine international law firms and begun the recruitment process on a "no win, no fee" basis to assist nearly 30 troubled banks in recovering non-performing loans.
As part of the first phase, legal proceedings have been launched in six cases involving former Land Minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury, controversial businessman S Alam, and business groups associated with Beximco, Sikder Group, Nasa Group and Orion Group.
The minister said the international firms would help banks identify overseas assets and funds belonging to alleged loan defaulters and provide legal assistance to repatriate those assets to Bangladesh. The government plans to expand the initiative further in the future.
The information was provided during the parliamentary question-and-answer session held under the chairmanship of Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmed.
Replying to a question from Chandpur-3 MP Sheikh Farid Ahmed, the finance minister said Bangladesh currently has 193.25 million bank accounts.
Of these, 177.95 million are savings accounts, while 15.31 million are loan accounts.
He added that the government formulated the National Financial Inclusion Strategy (NFIS) with the goal of bringing all adult citizens under the formal financial system by 2026. Bangladesh's current financial inclusion rate stands at 64.5%.
In response to a question from Jamalpur-3 MP Mostafizur Rahman Babul, the minister said Bangladesh's external debt stood at $78.23 billion as of March 2026.
Concessional loans accounted for 61.97% of the total external debt portfolio, while non-concessional loans represented 38.03%.
Replying to a question from Mymensingh-8 MP Lutfullahel Majed, the finance minister said the number of registered taxpayers in the country increased to 13.83 million.
The figure represents an 11.86% increase compared with the previous fiscal year.
Responding to a question from Gaibandha-4 MP Mohammad Shamim Kaisar, the minister said the government allocated Tk15.68 billion under the agricultural loan waiver programme for loans of up to Tk10,000 during the current fiscal year.
A total of 1.41 million farmers have benefited from the scheme.
The finance minister also informed Parliament that Bangladesh Bank had been providing regular emergency liquidity assistance to banks facing difficulties in repaying customer deposits because of liquidity shortages.
Responding to a question from reserved-seat MP Mosammat Shammi Akter, he said the central bank had provided Tk759.03 billion in emergency liquidity support as of 15 June.
In response to a question from Sirajganj-5 MP Amirul Islam Khan, the minister said 63 banks are currently operating across Bangladesh through 11,326 branches and 4,929 sub-branches.
Responding to separate questions from lawmakers from both the treasury and opposition benches, the finance minister said five Islamic banks -- Exim Bank, First Security Islami Bank, Global Islami Bank, Social Islami Bank and Union Bank -- have been brought under the Bank Resolution Scheme 2025.
He said depositors of these banks are being repaid, and under the Deposit Protection Act 2026, each depositor is eligible to receive up to Tk200,000.
The minister added that various departments of Bangladesh Bank are monitoring other banks facing liquidity stress and that actions will be taken under the Bank Resolution Act 2026 if necessary.
He also noted that the insured deposit limit has been doubled from Tk100,000 to Tk200,000 under the Deposit Protection Act 2026. According to the minister, Tk12,000 crore has already been transferred from the Deposit Protection Fund to the current accounts of the merged Islamic banks to support depositor protection and financial stability.
mirmostafiz@yahoo.com