The National Parliament will go into budget session from Tuesday and the budget proposal for the 2019-20 fiscal year is set to be tabled on Thursday (Jun 13).
This is the first budget for Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina-led government’s third term under a new finance minister.
As Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal had been involved with the budget of the last few years and the Annual Development Project (ADP), the challenge according to him is implementation of the budget.
According to the finance ministry a ballpark figure for this year’s budget might be around Tk 5,000 billion which is nearly 18.1 percent of the GDP.
This year’s budget will focus on skill development, employment and human resources and will include the plans for Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s birth centenary in 2020 and Bangladesh stepping into 50 years of Independence in 2021.
The government is working to ensure 100 percent employment by 2025 which is expected to bring down the poverty rate by 16 percent.
The finance minister had announced that this year the GDP will exceed by more than 8.13 percent, the GDP goal this budget might be set at more than 8 percent.
The government is also hoping to keep the inflation rate at less than 6 percent.
In a bid to make good on the Awami League’s election manifesto to urbanise the rural areas the internet sector will also be prioritised.
The allocation for the ongoing mega projects will be increased especially the ones in the power, roads and communication sector.
The Annual Development Project implementation for the 2019-20 fiscal year will be over Tk 2000 billion which has already been approved by the National Economic Council (NEC).
A total of 1,564 projects have been undertaken under the ADP and the local government division was given the most priority with an ADP allocation of nearly Tk 300 billion.
The revenue target for the new budget has been set at Tk 3778.1 billion which is almost Tk 390 billion more than last year. The revenue target is 13.1 percent of the GDP.
The budget deficit this year is expected to be almost Tk 1500 billion. The foreign aid has been kept at five percent.
“It’s harder to implement the budget than it is to prepare it,” said Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal.
He added that although its challenging, it’s not totally impossible.
He added that this year it will be easier to collect revenue as the VAT laws will be effective from the beginning of the first year.