Petrobangla’s debt in the LNG sector is Tk 22.5 billion in 50 months

❐ BD Digest Desk

While the government is struggling under the pressure of a deficit budget, rising debt and revenue collection, state-owned enterprises are involved in major irregularities in paying customs duties and taxes. Petrobangla has arrears of Tk 22,331 crore against LNG imported for almost 50 consecutive months, which has become a major concern for the country’s financial discipline.

According to Chittagong Customs sources, this huge amount of arrears has accumulated from December 2021 to January 2026. During this period, a total of 370 bills of entry were not submitted, which is a clear violation of the Customs Act.

Although about Tk 1,669 crore has been paid against 45 bills, the overall arrears remain at an unusually high level.

Customs officials say that failure to submit the bill of entry and pay customs duties and taxes within the stipulated time is a punishable offense. Despite repeated letters and communications in this regard, Petrobangla has not paid any money since August 2025.

An official of Chittagong Customs, speaking on condition of anonymity, said, “As a government institution, they should be more responsible. Releasing goods without a bill of entry is a violation of the law. This is hindering revenue collection and creating complications in the entire management.”

In the process of importing LNG, the gas is unloaded from the gas carrier at the floating terminal in Maheshkhali and supplied directly to the national grid. However, there are allegations that the mandatory customs formalities were not followed properly in this entire process.

Although a show cause notice was issued in 2022 to collect the dues, Petrobangla did not respond. Later, the company was warned of freezing its bank accounts and stopping the release of goods. In response, Petrobangla said that they would pay the dues if they received subsidies from the Finance Department.

However, a different argument has also been put forward by the organization.

Petrobangla Chairman Md. Erfanul Haque said, “There is an issue of double taxation here. We pay tax at the time of import, and we also have to pay tax at the time of sale. It is not reasonable to charge tax twice on the same product. The issue is under discussion with the NBR.”

A director said that there is a multi-faceted tax burden, with VAT, advance income tax and VAT again when LNG is imported, creating a burden. He also mentioned that the non-refund of advance income tax is also a major problem.

Meanwhile, sources in the Board of Revenue say that due to long-standing arrears, achieving revenue targets is being hampered and it is becoming difficult to maintain fiscal discipline. There are even problems in reconciling LNG import accounts in the Asyikuda World System.

It is worth noting that the government has followed the ‘book adjustment’ method to pay Petrobangla’s dues in the past as well. From 2009 to 2015, Tk 13,278 crore was adjusted in this way. In recent years, there is a plan to pay off the dues in stages by providing loans.

The overall situation raises questions: Where the pressure to collect revenue is increasing on ordinary taxpayers, how fair is the arrears of state-owned institutions and how much impact is this having on the country’s overall economy?