Home ›› 16 Jun 2023 ›› News
Higher budgetary allocation is needed in education and technology to create more skilled workers but the government cannot ensure that as it has to address other necessities, including electricity and infrastructure, required to alleviate poverty, Planning Minister MA Mannan has said.
Speaking at a programme titled “Reflections on Budget 2023-24: Education and Employment” and organised by the Centre on Budget and Policy (CBP) at the University of Dhaka on Thursday, he said, “We cannot take aid from development partners; we are borrowing from them.”
He said borrowing is the driving force of a country in capitalist societies.
“The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has given some conditions as we have taken loans, but we will never run the state as per their prescriptions. Saying we formulate the budget according to their prescriptions as a sovereign country is undignified for us.”
Presenting the keynote, CBP Director Mohammad Abu Eusuf, also a development studies professor at the University of Dhaka, said borrowing from commercial banks will shrink private investment while the government has set the private sector growth target at 27 per cent for the next fiscal year.
Besides, amidst the ongoing challenges and the government’s austerity measures, a 7.5 per cent GDP growth target for the next financial year is ambitious, he said.
The government should focus beyond growth, such as access to education, health, and social protection, so that quality change can be ensured in the upcoming days, he emphasised.
Rashed Al Mahmud Titumir, chairman of the development studies department at the University of Dhaka, said borrowing from the central bank to meet budget deficits will fuel inflation further.
He said leaving the exchange rate and interest cap to the market is not a solution as it will increase production costs. Rather, the government has to acknowledge the fundamental challenge in the country, which is a structural reformation of public institutions.
