Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)–Bangladesh government’s revenue earnings from the prime bourse fell further by 20 percent in April compared to March as the stock market witnessed lackluster trading.
The government bagged tax worth BDT 93.91 million in April against BDT 117.74 million in March, 2015, registering a decline of 20 percent over the month, according to statistics from the DSE.
Of the total revenue in April, BDT 77.56 million came from the brokerage commission and only BDT 16.35 million came from the share sales by sponsor-directors and placement holders, the DSE data showed.
The DSE, on behalf of the government, collects tax as brokerage commission and sponsor and placement shares sales at the rate of 0.05 percent and 5.0 percent respectively and deposits the amount to the government exchequer.
“Tax collection is related to trading volume and investors were cautious about taking fresh position almost throughout the month of April amid fear of further fall of stock prices,” said a DSE official.
DSEX suffered a loss of about 483 points in April, hitting fresh 18-month low as investors were on selling spree, fearing further fall of stock prices.
However, daily average turnover rose to BDT 3.87 billion in April compared to BDT 2.82 billion in March.
Accordingly, tax collection from brokerage firms in April increased to BDT 77.56 million against BDT 61.39 million in March.
But sponsor-directors and placement holders share sales dropped significantly in April to BDT 16.35 million while it was BDT 56.35 million in March.
However, in the first 10 months of the current fiscal year (FY), the government’s revenue earnings from DSE increased 8.58 percent compared to same period last fiscal.
In the first 10 months (July’14 to April’15) of the current fiscal year, DSE paid tax worth BDT 1,433.83 million against BDT 1,320.52 million in the same period last fiscal year, the DSE data showed.
The government bagged tax worth around BDT 1.54 billion from DSE in the FY 2013-2014 against BDT 1.27 billion in the FY 2012-2013.