The upcoming national budget should avoid imposing any new taxes on food products consumed by ordinary people, said Ahsan Khan Chowdhury, chairman of PRAN-RFL Group, one of the country’s largest food and beverage companies.

Private commercial banks need stronger legal backing rather than financial support in the next national budget to restore confidence in the banking sector and protect depositors, according to the Bangladesh Association of Banks (BAB).

The government should reduce import duties on solar equipment in the upcoming budget for fiscal year 2026-27 to encourage wider adoption of renewable energy and help exporters meet international compliance requirements, said Vidiya Amrit Khan, vice-president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA).

The government should focus on stabilising businesses in the upcoming budget for fiscal year 2026-27 rather than chasing ambitious growth targets, according to a top business leader, as he says confidence remains fragile at home and global risks are rising.

The business community wants to see the government prioritise energy security, banking stability and practical reforms in the upcoming budget for fiscal year 2026-27, Taskeen Ahmed, the president of the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI), has said.

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) seeks at least 10 percent higher value-added tax (VAT) collection from businesses each year, regardless of whether their sales grow, according to Riad Mahmud, president of the Bangladesh Association of Publicly Listed Companies (BAPLC). He said the practice has created a “double whammy” for manufacturers already strained by years of overlapping economic shocks.

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The budget, by all accounts, will be a large one

The government is planning to ease the tax burden on lower- and middle-income taxpayers in the 2026-27 budget by gradually raising the tax-free income limit and introducing multi-year tax declarations to provide greater certainty for individuals.

The revenue authority plans to gradually develop a mechanism to assess assets at actual market value