Bangladesh Cuts Budget Deficit Target to Lowest Since 2015

  • Finance Minister proposes raising income tax for the wealthy
  • VAT rates increase, government plans to slow spending

Sheikh Hasina

Photographer: Christopher Pike/Bloomberg
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Bangladesh plans to cut the budget deficit to the lowest in more than a decade as Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government slows spending and raises taxes amid a steady erosion of foreign reserves.

The government plans to lower the deficit to 4.6% in the new fiscal year starting in July — the lowest since 2015, from a 5.2% target currently, according to Finance Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali.