The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has set a Tk1.32 lakh crore revenue target for Chattogram Custom House in FY2026-27, requiring the country’s largest customs station to generate more than 73 per cent of Bangladesh’s import-related customs revenue despite global trade uncertainty and a reduced revenue base.
The target of Tk1,32,435 crore is 29.46 per cent higher than the Tk1,02,295 crore goal set for the previous fiscal year, requiring the customs station to collect an additional Tk30,140 crore.
The challenge is even steeper against actual collections. Chattogram Custom House collected Tk81,471.37 crore in FY2025-26, meaning it must raise an additional Tk50,963.63 crore this fiscal year to meet the new target.
According to the NBR, the country’s 18 customs commissionerates have been assigned a combined import-duty revenue target of Tk1,80,597 crore for FY2026-27. Chattogram Custom House alone accounts for Tk1,32,435 crore, or 73.33 per cent of that total.
Trade analysts said meeting such an ambitious target will be difficult amid continued global economic uncertainty, volatile import trends and pressure on international trade.
Customs officials, however, remain optimistic.
Sharif Mohammad Al Amin, assistant commissioner and spokesperson for Chattogram Custom House, said recent revenue growth indicates the target is achievable.
“If we work with sincerity and maintain our current momentum, achieving the target is not impossible. We recorded 12.37 per cent revenue growth in the last fiscal year, while revenue collection in June alone increased by 69 per cent. If this trend continues, we will be able to meet the target,” he said.
Chattogram Port handles about 92 per cent of Bangladesh’s import and export trade, making Chattogram Custom House the country’s largest source of import-duty revenue.
The task has become more challenging following the establishment of Custom House ICD Chattogram, which has reduced the revenue base of the main customs station.
Under the new arrangement, revenue from imports of 65 categories of goods, along with export-related customs activities at Chattogram airport and 21 private inland container depots (ICDs), will now be collected by the new commissionerate instead of Chattogram Custom House.
The NBR has assigned Custom House ICD Chattogram a separate revenue target of Tk2,098 crore for FY2026-27, and the commissionerate has already begun operating under its own revenue collection code.
The NBR projects that the Tk1,32,435 crore target will come from three major sources: Tk50,501 crore from import duty, Tk66,198 crore from import-stage value-added tax (VAT) and Tk15,737 crore from supplementary duty.
Although Chattogram Customs missed its FY2025-26 target, revenue collection continued to grow.
The customs station collected Tk81,471.37 crore during the fiscal year, up 12.37 per cent from Tk72,502.41 crore in FY2024-25, an increase of Tk8,968.96 crore.
Historical data show that while annual collections have often fallen short of official targets, the customs station has steadily expanded its revenue base.
In FY1998-99, it collected Tk6,418 crore against a target of Tk6,658 crore. Revenue exceeded Tk20,000 crore for the first time in FY2010-11, reaching Tk20,072 crore.
In FY2015-16, collections surpassed the Tk30,000 crore target, reaching about Tk31,000 crore and recording annual growth of 14.89 per cent.
Revenue remained resilient during the Covid-19 pandemic, reaching Tk51,577 crore in FY2020-21.
Collections later stood at Tk61,050.88 crore against a target of Tk94,208 crore in FY2022-23, Tk68,666.58 crore against Tk97,616 crore in FY2023-24, and Tk76,142.98 crore against Tk80,402 crore in FY2024-25.
Despite repeatedly falling short of increasingly ambitious targets, Chattogram Custom House has maintained average annual revenue growth of 10-15 per cent over the past two decades. This year’s target, however, will require one of the largest year-on-year increases in its history.
