NBR officials had been protesting the dissolution of the NBR and the creation of two separate entities - the Revenue Policy Division (RPD) and the Revenue Management Division (RMD) - since May.
The protests continued until Sunday when the government promised strict measures if the workers did not return to work immediately.
There have been reports that the reforms were prescribed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), who had pledged a $4.7 billion loan to Bangladesh in six tranches.
The following is a timeline of IMF's grant payments and their prescriptions.
January, 2023 to June, 2024: The $4.7 billion agreement and the three tranches
In January 2023, the IMF Executive Board approved the 42-month $4.7 billion loan for . Bangladesh. Of which, $3.3 billion were under the Extended Credit Facility(ECF), and the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) programs. The remaining $1.4 billion was under the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF). Bangladesh was the first Asian country to receive funds under the RSF.
The ECF/EFF arrangement recommended structural reforms to strengthen the management of public finance, investment, and debt. The RSF fund was to provide financing to support Bangladesh's climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts.
The first tranche of $476 million and the second tranche of $682 million was disbursed respectively in February and December 2023. The third tranche of 1.15 billion was disbursed in June, 2024.
December, 2024: Agreement between IMF and Bangladesh to reform NBR
The IMF and the Bangladesh authority reached staff level agreement on the policies needed to complete the third review under the ECF, EFF, and RSF arrangements.
Amid the financial challenges the IMF observed in a press release (18 December, 2024) that "Bangladesh's low tax-to-GDP ratio calls for urgent tax reforms to establish a fairer, more transparent system and sustainably increase revenue, focusing on rationalising exemptions, improving compliance, and separating tax policy from administration."
In December 2024, the IMF clearly demanded the split of the revenue policy division from the revenue admin by June, 2025.
March, 2025: The delay of the 4th tranche
The fourth tranche was scheduled to be reviewed in February 2025 and released in March, 2025. But it was delayed.
As per media reports, unmet fiscal targets, exchange rate and monetary policy issues along with stalled structural policy reforms were the reasons for the delay.
NBR reform (Separation of Tax Policy and Administration) was among the structural reform issues.
April, 2025: IMF's visit
An IMF mission team led by Chris Papageorgiou visited Dhaka during April 6–17 to discuss economic and financial policies.
According to the IMF, a comprehensive strategy to boost revenue and reform expenditures was crucial for supporting Bangladesh in facing the macroeconomic challenges.
May, 2025: The ordinance on the NBR Reform
In May, the interim government of Bangladesh dissolved the NBR and created the RPD and the RMD divisions under the Ministry of Finance. The Revenue Policy and Revenue Management Ordinance 2025 which realized the reform was promulgated on 12, May, 2025.
June, 2025: The Disbursement of the 4th and the 5th Tranches
On June 23, 2025, the IMF approved the $1.3 billion loan after completing its combined third and fourth reviews of Bangladesh's arrangements under the ECF, EFF and the RSF. Bangladesh received the fund on 26th June, 2025 in Bangladesh Bank's forex account.
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