Visionary budget to focus on ‘Smart Bangladesh’

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal is scheduled to present the budget for the fiscal year 2023-24 (FY24) in Jatiya Sangsad on June 1 with focus on building a smart Bangladesh, creating jobs, addressing challenges of the fourth industrial revolution (4IR).

The theme for the budget, with an estimated size of Tk 7,61,785 crore, will be “Unnayner Agrayatra Periye Smart Bangladesher Abhimukhe,” according to the sources at the Finance Ministry. The revenue collection target to meet the expenditure is estimated to be Tk 4,35,000 crore.

Besides, the government is expected to set the expenditure of the state-owned organisations at Tk 4,24,565 crore for the upcoming fiscal year while the income will be Tk 4,09,862 crore.

Ministry sources said Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal will present his vision of how to make a developed Bangladesh smart in his upcoming budget speech. The speech will cover building a smart country to cope with the 4iR.

They said the budget speech has been prepared with emphasis on ensuring people’s employment through business expansion. The government will take initiatives to increase the investment of state-owned enterprises to create new jobs. A total of Tk 33,882.29 crore is estimated to be invested in FY24 to that end.

Meanwhile, there are a total of 78 ongoing projects in the country under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP). Two of these projects are in progress while agreements have been signed with private partners for implementation of 17 projects. 18 projects are in the procurement stage. Feasibility studies are also underway in 25 projects. Recruitment of consultants for seven projects is in progress.

Apart from this, seven projects with Japan, five with Korea and one each with Singapore, Dubai and United Arab Emirates are being implemented under the G2G (Government to Government) PPP policy, where the potential investment cost is $2 billion. If these projects are implemented, $3,896 billion or Tk 3,81,600 will be added to the country’s economy, said officials.

In his budget speech, the finance minister will reassure the countrymen about improving the country and transforming it into a smart one with visions to make smart roads to smart intellectuals.

Particularly, focus will be on the ICT sector, power sector, and making smart citizens.

The budget speech will also focus on income tax as the source of revenue to meet the expenditure of the government. In addition, the value added tax (VAT) is expected to be reduced to provide benefits to businesses. Also, to increase the income of non-NBR sources, government fees will be increased in all areas.

The finance minister will also announce the increase in the allocation and number of beneficiaries in the social security sector following instructions of the prime minister, said sources.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has outlined a three-year extension of social protection programmes with various conditions under its $4.7 billion loan programme to Bangladesh. To implement the framework, it is necessary to increase the revenue target.

The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) has already approved Tk 2.63 lakh crore for the Annual Development Program (ADP) for the next fiscal year.

The total income target of the budget is estimated to be Tk 5 lakh crore, of which, the income of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) is estimated at Tk 4,35,000 crore.

Therefore, the deficit in FY24 is expected to be Tk 2,59,955 crore and interest payment expenditure is estimated at Tk 1,02,376 crore.

The finance minister will announce the inflation target for the next fiscal year at 6.5 per cent and GDP growth at 7.5 per cent, according to sources.