Issues that are gaining importance in Tarique Rahman’s government’s first budget

After coming to power after 19 long years, the current BNP government has found a weak, stressed and troubled economy. In this situation, the party is going to present the budget for the 2026-27 fiscal year in parliament today. It is learned that the budget contains various promises to build a development, employment and welfare state.
This will be the first budget of the current BNP government led by Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, who came to power through the parliamentary elections last February. Finance Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury will present the first budget of the current BNP government in the presence of Prime Minister Tarique Rahman.
Responding to questions from journalists at the Secretariat on Tuesday, Finance Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury said that this year’s budget is being presented keeping in mind the concerns of every person in the country. Economic analysts say that the biggest challenge in formulating a budget keeping in mind the concerns of people from all walks of life will be to reduce high inflation and determine and implement how to achieve the revenue collection targets set in the budget.
In addition, creating an investment environment to restore the confidence of entrepreneurs and businessmen and increase investment, ensuring energy and food security in the context of rising energy and power prices, and managing the increasing pressure of subsidies will also be major challenges for the government in this budget.
Various ministries have already submitted proposals for subsidies worth about Tk 120,000 crore to the finance department for the next fiscal year. There is a possibility that the subsidy pressure will increase further due to the increase in energy prices due to the war in the Middle East.
The government’s revenue collection target for the 2026-27 fiscal year has been set at Tk 695,000 crore, which is 23 percent higher than the target for the current fiscal year.
Of this, Tk 604,000 crore will be collected from the National Board of Revenue or NBR, Tk 25,000 crore from non-NBR sectors, and Tk 66,000 crore from non-tax sources.
Economist Dr. Khandaker Mustafizur Rahman said, the GDP growth rate has decreased, private investment has decreased, export growth is minus two percent, and the amount of LC opened for capital equipment imports is negative – the budget is being announced amidst many accumulated problems.
He said, there is a challenge to restore these and achieve stability. Again, the BNP made many promises in the elections. The challenge of implementing them in this budget will have to be taken up. However, the biggest challenge is to bring relief to public life by reducing the cost of living, increasing investment and keeping inflation under control.
This year’s budget has a target of collecting about 23 percent more revenue than the revenue earned in the current fiscal year. Once again, a deficit of about Tk 243,000 crore has been kept in the budget. To meet this, the government will have to rely on bank and non-bank loans and foreign aid.
In the budget, the government has planned to collect more than Tk 1 lakh crore in loans from the banking sector. Mustafizur Rahman said, how this revenue will be collected will be a big challenge. Interest on domestic and foreign loans is currently at the top of the expenditure. As a result, if the BNP government cannot increase revenue collection as planned, the deficit will increase and the country’s economy will be at risk of debt.
He said, high inflation must be reduced. For this, the confidence of entrepreneurs and businessmen must be restored and investment must be increased. Through this, employment and self-employment must be created. Initiatives can be taken to reduce the cost of living through salary scales, social security programs and new innovative programs.
Again, for all this, revenue income must be increased. Whether it is done by imposing additional taxes or by coming up with new ideas, everyone will be watching. Meanwhile, this year’s budget may include a proposal to create a fund of Tk 225 crore for the Entrepreneur Development Fund and Tk 2,000 crore for small and medium entrepreneurs (SMEs).
According to state news agency BSS, the government may also announce the partial implementation of the new salary structure for government employees. In addition to bringing reforms in licenses, approvals and tax management, the government has announced plans to launch an integrated one-stop service called ‘BanglaBiz’.
The Finance Department has said that through this, business-related services will be available on digital platforms. There are plans to bring the activities of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) online more extensively. Today’s budget may propose online tax return filing, direct tax refund to bank accounts and quick resolution of tax-related disputes.
In addition, the budget is taking initiatives to launch the ‘e-health card’ program for 2.5 million citizens of the country. In addition, several new programs, including family cards and farmer cards, may be added under the social security program and allocations may be increased in existing programs.
However, it remains to be seen what steps the government takes in the budget to accelerate the pace of the annual development program by dealing with the pressure of the huge amount of subsidies that the government currently has to pay in the gas, electricity and fertilizer sectors.
In addition, the pressure to repay the installments of loans taken for various development projects is gradually increasing. Many will also keep an eye on what steps the government takes to increase income from internal sources to maintain stability in repaying these loans.