Employment, heavy industry prioritised in budget

The budget for 2024-25 fiscal has put emphasis on creation of employment and heavy industrialisation aiming to face the challenges of graduation from developing to upper-middle income country alongside revenue collection.

“Budget for the FY2024-25 has been formulated to accelerate the growth of the economy to prepare for LDC graduation reaching upper-middle-income nation, creating new jobs, sustain GDP growth, promote local industries, increase investment through protection and trade facilitation, development of export-oriented and heavy industrial enterprises and promote ‘Made in Bangladesh’ concept,” Finance Minister AH Mahmood Ali told in his budget speech.

He said that the revenue collection has shown a decent growth up to April 2024 in the current fiscal year despite Ukraine-Russia war, geopolitical tension in the Middle East and many other global economic turmoil, reports UNB.

 “Despite all the barriers, we are trying to maintain the momentum of economic and GDP growth.”

He mentioned that the fiscal policy is being planned taking into consideration the global instability and tension in international trade and commerce.

The Finance Minister said that the government revenue target is set based on the size of the budget.

He mentioned that the government revenue is collected mainly from three sources: NBR tax revenue, non-NBR tax revenue and non-tax revenue. Like previous years, the major portion of government revenue will be collected by the National Board of Revenue (NBR), he said.

Almost 86 per cent of total revenue has been collected by NBR in recent years, he added.

“The main responsibility of NBR is to collect revenue,” he said.

Simultaneously, the Minister said, it also works for promotion of industrialization, creating employment, facilitating trade, protecting local industries and attracting foreign investment.

“Despite the post-pandemic repercussions and the global economic turbulence exacerbated by wars and conflicts in different regions, revenue collection has exhibited sustained growth during this period. NBR is steadily inching towards SMART NBR aligned with the vision of SMART Bangladesh,” Mahmood Ali said.