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Bangladesh's tax-GDP ratio lowest in APAC: OECD report

16 Jul '25

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Bangladesh's tax-GDP ratio lowest in APAC: OECD report

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Bangladesh's tax-to-GDP ratio decreased by 0.1 pp from 7.3 per cent in 2022 to 7.2 per cent in 2023, below the Asia-Pacific (APAC) average of 19.5 per cent, according to a recent OECD report.
It was also below the OECD average of 33.9 per cent.
Tax revenues increased on an average across the APAC region for the third consecutive year in 2023, driven by higher VAT receipts.

Bangladesh's tax-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio decreased by 0.1 percentage point (pp) from 7.3 per cent in 2022 to 7.2 per cent in 2023, below the Asia-Pacific (APAC) average of 19.5 per cent, according to a recent report by the organisation for Economic Cooperation and development (OECD).

It was also below the OECD average of 33.9 per cent and almost a fifth of the Pacific Island nation Niue, which had a tax-to-GDP ratio of 35.3 per cent.

The report, titled ‘Revenue Statistics in Asia and the Pacific 2025: Bangladesh’, said tax revenues increased on an average across the APAC region for the third consecutive year in 2023, driven by higher value-added tax (VAT) receipts.

Bangladesh, along with 23 other countries in the region, is heavily dependent on VAT and import tariffs for its tax revenue, the report noted.

In 2023, the country collected most of its revenue—4.7 per cent of its GDP—from goods and services, namely through VAT and import tariffs.

In terms of direct taxes, the country’s income tax collection amounted to only 2.5 per cent of GDP, well below the APAC average of 7.4 per cent of GDP.

Thirty-four per cent of the revenue collected by the country in 2023 came from income tax, while the rest came from taxes on goods and services.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)

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