The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has expressed concern over Bangladesh’s steeply raised revenue target for the current fiscal year, finding the explanations from finance officials unconvincing during an ongoing creditworthiness review mission in Dhaka.

Finance Division sources said the IMF team, which has been in Dhaka since October 29 to assess progress under the US$5.5 billion lending programme, questioned the rationale behind the government’s decision to raise the National Board of Revenue’s (NBR) collection target by over 35 per cent.

The NBR has been tasked with generating Tk 4.99 trillion in fiscal year 2024–25, up from Tk 3.68 trillion actually collected last year, against a target of Tk 4.8 trillion. IMF officials reportedly asked whether the tax authority had the capacity to meet such an ambitious target.

Finance Division representatives told the mission that the increase was necessary to support a Tk 7.9 trillion national budget, noting that revenue is the government’s main funding source alongside domestic and external borrowing.

They argued that Bangladesh’s low tax-to-GDP ratio—slightly above 7 percent—suggests significant untapped potential, although they could not specify concrete measures to boost collections.

The IMF team is expected to meet the Finance Division’s Macroeconomics Wing on Wednesday for further clarification.

In a separate meeting on Monday, the mission also reviewed the government’s banking-sector reform efforts, including plans to merge five state-owned banks into a shariah-based institution, recapitalization needs, and safeguards for deposit protection and liquidity support.