Chattogram Custom House has fallen short of its revenue target for fiscal 2019-20 by 28 per cent or Tk 16,445 crore. According to the National Board of Revenue (NBR), the target was Tk 58,298 crore while Tk 41,853 crore was collected. During the past seven years, the customs authority faced negative growth in revenue collection. In fiscal 2018-19, the customs collected Tk 43,577 crore, which is 4 per cent higher than that of fiscal 2019-20. Customs officials cited the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and a reduction in the import of 100 types of goods as the reasons for missing the revenue collection target. The goods include high-speed diesel, crude oil, re-conditioned car, cement clinkers, raw materials of iron, petroleum oil, electronics parts, ready-made ceramic, and various vehicles parts. A total of 8.29 crore tonnes of goods worth Tk 394,734 crore were imported from different countries in fiscal 2019-20 whereas 7.87 crore tonnes of goods worth Tk 35,474 crore were imported in fiscal 2018-19. Customs sources said facilitating industries with Custom Procedure Code benefit, the South Asian Free Trade Area facility and acceptance of deferred payments by government departments could also be blamed. Besides weak monitoring for checking the import of goods through false declarations also caused a decrease in revenue earning, the sources added. Md Fakhrul Alam, commissioner of Chattogram Customs, said the import of duty-free products had increased last year while the number of regular imports had decreased including all kinds of cars, raw materials and goods on which high duty is imposed. According to the data, customs authority also failed to achieve the monthly target of each month in the fiscal year. A massive amount of the targets were missed during the coronavirus pandemic from February to May this year. Customs missed the target by Tk 1,264 crore in February, Tk 1,557 crore in March, Tk 3,509 crore in April and Tk 2,409 crore in May.
