The country’s food inflation surged into double digits in May, hitting 10.76 per cent, up from 10.22 per cent in April, according to Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) data.
While the government is taking initiatives to alleviate the pressure on low-income individuals by providing essential goods through the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) every month, the finance ministry is planning to reduce TCB's subsidy allocation by 8 per cent in the upcoming FY2024-2025 budget compared to FY24.
The government’s essential product selling plan primarily reaches 10 million low-income individuals at subsidised rates through the TCB every month.
State Minister of Commerce Ahasanul Islam Titu has also announced plans to extend these subsidised prices to middle-income individuals in the future.
However, for the upcoming national budget for the fiscal year 2024-2025, the government has planned a total expenditure of Tk 11,167 crore for the purchase and operation of TCB, about Tk 800 crore less than the current FY24. This represents approximately a 7 per cent decrease in the allocation for TCB purchases, sources from the finance ministry revealed.
At the beginning of the current fiscal year, the government's budget for TCB purchases was Tk 11,966 crore. The government estimates an income of Tk5,149 crore from selling TCB products.
Excluding this revenue from the procurement expenditure, the subsidy estimate for the next fiscal year is Tk 6,017 crore, which is 8 per cent less than the current year's subsidy of Tk 6,536 crore.
This subsidy is also less than the revised budget subsidy for this year, which was Tk 6,062 crore.
The size of the revised budget for the current financial year is Tk 11,155 crore, with a revenue amount fixed at Tk 5,092 crore.
