Home ›› 12 May 2023 ›› Front
Considering the present economic situation and global crisis, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has directed the authorities concerned to pay special attention and take steps to rein in inflation and mobilise revenue to meet the increased expenditures in the next budget for the fiscal year 2023-24.
She also directed to prepare a suitable budget to maintain macroeconomic stability of the country by avoiding excesses in the operational expenditure of the government, Finance Division officials said quoting the premier.
The PM gave the directives in the National Economic Council (NEC) meeting on Thursday that approved a Tk 263,000 crore Annual Development Programme (ADP) for FY24.
Planning Minister MA Mannan, Prime Minister’s Economic Adviser Mashiur Rahman, Bangladesh Bank Governor Abdur Rauf Talukder, National Board of Revenue (NBR) Chairman Abu Hena Md Rahmatul Munim along with Finance Division officials and budget formulation and senior officials of the Prime Minister’s Office were present in the meeting.
According to Finance Division officials, the budget proposal for the next fiscal will be formulated keeping the austerity plan of the government intact.
Speaking at the NEC meeting, PM Hasina suggested increasing expenditure in the service sector to ensure social welfare of the citizens, including widening the coverage of social safety net and development projects.
In addition, she directed the authorities concerned to take measures in the next budget to increase exports while keeping import costs under control to maintain foreign exchange reserves.
The finance ministry has prepared an expenditure plan of about Tk 7.60 lakh crore for the next fiscal, which is about 14 per cent higher than the budget for FY23. However, there is no new expenditure plan in the upcoming budget as it is the last budget before the national election scheduled for next January.
According to finance ministry sources, most of the additional budget allocation is being earmarked to meet loan interest payment and subsidy liability.
Meanwhile, Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has presented a draft income-expenditure plan for the next fiscal year in a meeting with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at Ganabhaban last Wednesday night.
Austerity in focus
According to the sources present at the meeting, PM Hasina has directed the authorities concerned to take up more stringent austerity measures in the coming days.
However, she also suggested adopting a strong fiscal policy in the upcoming budget to keep commodity prices at a bearable level to control inflation.
According to finance ministry sources, the premier urged caution regarding the operating expenses of the government. In particular, she discouraged making unnecessary foreign trips by the government bureaucrats.
The premier instructed officials to explore alternate export markets since the extent of production and exportable items have increased over the years.
She sought explanations for the low implementation rate of ADB, and asked to strengthen monitoring of development activities.
Asking to maintain the existing reserve of foreign currency, the premier directed authorities to bring the use of Hundi under control to increase remittance and the availability of dollars
She also directed officials to focus on rural development.
GDP 7.5%, inflation 6.5%
Chairing the NEC meeting, the prime minister on Thursday approved the draft budget proposal with several instructions.
The finance minister is expected to present the approved budget proposal for the next fiscal year in the national parliament on June 1. After this, the budget will be passed on June 26 after discussion in the Jatiya Sangsad.
Sources said during the NEC meeting, the finance minister assured the prime minister that the macroeconomic condition of the country is in good shape. In this situation, it will be possible to achieve growth as per the target in the next fiscal year.
The finance minister said in the future, the allocation of loan interest, subsidy and social security will increase.
Besides, in the meeting, the Finance Division Senior Secretary Fatima Yasmin outlined the upcoming budget before the prime minister.
According to the Finance Division estimation, the gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate will be 7.5 per cent and inflation rate will be 6.5 per cent in FY24.
In the meantime, Bangladesh Bank Governor Abdur Rouf Talukder highlighted steps to be taken by the central bank in the next monetary policy to keep the inflation rate at the desired level.
The central bank is scheduled to release monetary policy guidelines on June 18.
Emphasis on increasing revenue
In Thursday’s NEC meeting, Prime Minister Hasina asked that social safety net coverage be extended to increase assistance to the poor.
Besides, she asked to emphasise increasing the sale of food products at subsidised prices through the Directorate General of Food and the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB).
The premier instructed authorities concerned to bolster efforts to increase revenue collection in the upcoming fiscal.
She asked to draw up a new revenue collection plan by removing long-standing bottlenecks, including expanding the collection area outside of the NBR.
The PM said the budget should not create duress for the people, and directed officials to formulate the budget in coordination with business leaders.
She directed the finance minister and the NBR chairman to consider each and every demand made by the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce & Industries on behalf of traders.
