Dhaka, Aug. 13 -- The development has vindicated warnings by economists that setting a huge target would not be wise in the backdrop of the coronavirus crisis ravaging the global economy.

The National Board of Revenue raised Tk 123.34 billion in the first month of the financial year with a 22.7 percent year-on-year drop.

The revenue collection grew by 15.43 percent in July last year. But the lockdown measures in the country along with adverse effects of the pandemic on the global economy pushed the total collection in 2019-20 fiscal year down by 2.26 percent.

Given the grim reality, many economists called Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal's 8 percent revenue growth target in the new budget "unrealistic".

"The drop in revenue collecti...