Budgetary allocation for youth insufficient

Though the youth account for around one-fourth of the country’s population and play a pivotal role in economic development in terms of demographic dividend, they have received inadequate allocations in the proposed budget for FY23, experts say. 

Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) Distinguished Fellow Mustafizur Rahman said the FY23 budget had not paid distinct attention to the youth.

No significant increase was proposed in the allocation for the Ministry of Youth and Sports in FY23, said CPD Executive Director Fahmida Khatun. 

The proposed budget has mentioned only one specific step for the youth – the government will provide assistance for building an innovation centre, proposed by the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI), for them.

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal in his budget speech said the government had always prioritised exploring innovative thinking of the youth. “It will provide necessary assistance for setting up the innovation centre proposed by the FBCCI.”

The innovation centre’s aim is to help young people bring their creative ideas into reality, the minister said.

Kamal has proposed a Tk 1,282 crore allocation for the Ministry of Youth and Sports in the budget. He proposed increasing the ministry’s overall allocation by 1.4 per cent but decreasing the development budget by 11.4 per cent.

Fahmida said the Annual Development Programme (ADP) allocation for the youth and sports ministry was Tk 510 crore in the 8th Five Year Plan but only Tk 303 crore was proposed for this purpose in the FY23 budget.

The ministry’s ADP implementation rate fell from 29.2 per cent in FY21 to 28.02 per cent till April in FY22, she said.

“How jobs will be created for the educated but unemployed youth should be clearly mentioned in the budget. 20 lakh graduates enter the job market every year, but they do not get jobs,” said Asik Shorov, a jobseeker.

He said he had joined a private firm and his salary was Tk 12,000 but the work environment was not suitable for his career growth.

“The salary was very poor as well. I later quit and started preparing to get a government job.”

Asik further said, “How will young graduates become entrepreneurs as they do not know much about the business world?

Complex paperwork and banks’ tendency not to lend to fresh graduates are barriers to entrepreneurship.”

Selim Raihan, executive director of South Asian Network on Economic Modeling (SANEM), said the coronavirus pandemic had severely affected youngsters as their education was disrupted while businesses, mostly small and medium enterprises, faced a downturn.

“But the budget has not addressed their problems and situations as we expected,” he said.

He also said the government had been focusing more on gross domestic product (GDP) growth for the last few years but adequate initiatives had not been taken to mitigate the youth’s worsening situation and create jobs for them.

“The government has to prioritise youth-centric programmes to create employment, enhance their skills, and ensure a positive environment to help them become entrepreneurs,” Selim added.

The 2016-17 Labour Force Survey put the country’s unemployment rate at 4.3 per cent and that of youth unemployment (aged 15-29) at 11 per cent.