Bangladesh Bank blames NBR, EPB for $23b mismatch

Bangladesh Bank (BB) has blamed the National Board of Revenue (NBR) and the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) for a staggering miscalculation of $23 billion over a 20-month period.

In a letter to the finance and commerce ministries, the central bank said it collects information on import expenditure, export income, invisible expenditure, invisible income, and remittances from all banks, EPB, NBR, and other institutions monthly to prepare the balance of payments statement.

The BB explained how the miscalculation occurred, noting that multiple entries for the same export transactions were found in the dataset provided by an NBR representative.

It added that the same export data and HS codes were entered multiple times. EPB accounted for all parts, including fabric, even though only manufacturing charges for cutting, making, and trimming were paid.

The miscalculation of the actual export data recently made headlines, with the central bank recalculating the balance of payments last week, turning the financial account from a deficit to a surplus.