The Finance Division has decided to impose 0.25 per cent one-time fee on guarantees and counter-guarantees it provides against loans taken by the state-owned entities.

The decision, which will take effect from the new financial year of 2026-27, has been aimed at generating more income for the government on the back of chronic revenue shortfalls by the National Board of Revenue, said division officials.

Finance and planning minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury is expected to announce on Thursday the new national budget with an expenditure outlay of Tk 9.38 lakh crore and the income projection at Tk 6.95 lakh crore.

Of the income, Tk 66,000 crore is likely to be projected from non-tax revenue that includes fees and charges.

A notification past week informed the state-owned entities and automatous bodies about the latest decision on the imposition of the guarantee fee.

The government provides guarantees and counter-guarantees against loan negotiated by various state-owned financial and non-financial enterprises.

The cumulative outstanding guarantees, also known  as contingent liabilities of the  government, will stand at Tk 1,19,082 crore at the end of the outgoing FY26, registering a 62 per cent increase over Tk 73,835 crore in FY 22.

The high growth of contingent liabilities has been attributed to guarantees provided during the tenure of the Awami League regime mainly to the power and aviation sectors.

Together the sectors account for over 50 per cent of the current contingent liabilities.

If the contracting organisations fail to pay their loan timely, the guarantees are invoked and the liabilities for payment are passed on to the government.

Officials said that the previous political regime was desperate to generate income from different sources to make up the revenue shortfall.

The past AL regime introduced ‘Deposition of the Surplus Money of Self-Governed Agencies including Autonomous, Semi-Autonomous, Statutory Government Authorities and Public Non-Financial Corporations into the Government Exchequer Bill, 2020’.

Then finance minister AFM Mustafa Kamal said that the act was aimed at utilising a part of some Tk 2.12 lakh crore idle money that lied with the SOEs for development activities.

State-owned enterprises deposited around Tk 16,746 crore in the first year.

But the deposit of SOEs surplus fund has remained suspended since 2022 following a writ challenging the legality of a law.