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Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal on Thursday placed the proposed national budget for FY2023-24 in parliament with a deficit of Tk 2,61,785 crore with a focus on making a smart Bangladesh and an annual growth target of 7.5 per cent.
In his 252-page budget speech, presented through the audio-visual medium, the finance minister hoped to bring down the inflation rate to around 6 per cent from the over existing 9 per cent, a target economists described as ambitious.
Kamal, presenting his fifth budget in a row, proposed to spend Tk 7,61,785 crore, while the total revenue has been estimated at Tk 5 lakh crore – of which Tk 4,30,000 crore will come through National Board of Revenue and Tk 70,000 crore from other sources.
The proposed size of the budget represents 15.2 per cent of the GDP. He allocated Tk 4,36,247 crore to operating and other sectors, while Tk 2,63,000 crore to Annual Development Programme (ADP).
The deficit in the proposed budget is estimated at 5.2 per cent of GDP, down from 5.5 per cent in the outgoing FY2022-23, the finance minister said. The deficit is proposed to be financed from domestic sources of Tk1,55,395 crore, while external sources will bring in Tk12,490 crore.
The proposed budget is also the last budget of the current Awami League government before the next general election to be held in December this year or in January next year. Keeping the election in mind, the finance minister proposed to raise the tax-free individual income tax to Tk 3.5 lakh besides withdrawing taxes on several commodities.
He also highlighted the challenges that the government faces in the days ahead.
“Overall, our current challenge is to control inflation, improve the account balance situation and stabilise the foreign exchange rate,” he said.
He also stressed the need for adopting strategies to deal with “sustainable transition and post-transition realities from the LDCs…”
“In particular tariff rationalisation, domestic resources mobilisation to meet the fiscal deficit, withdrawal of subsidy or cash assistance or exploring alternatives… should be considered now,” he said.
The ruling Awami League hailed the proposed budget as “people friendly” and a document that will help the country come back from crisis and global economic downturn.
BNP denounced it as a “smart budget to plunder the public money.” Jatiya Party Chairman GM Quader termed the budget impractical and said the government could use the public money to overcome election hurdles.
