The victory story of the mass uprising remains in the budget speech
Students and the public sacrificed themselves in the July mass uprising to free the country from fascism. To commemorate the martyrs and injured in this movement, their victory story will be included in the budget for the next fiscal year 2025-26. In the first week of June, Finance Advisor Dr. Salehuddin Ahmed will present the budget. The Finance Department and the National Board of Revenue (NBR) have already started the work of preparing the budget. According to relevant sources.
It is learned that the government’s long and medium-term development outline will be presented in the budget speech. At the same time, the short-term economic action plan will be presented to achieve the budget goals. In the budget speech, the Finance Advisor will highlight the macroeconomic situation, the government’s long-term goals and the activities taken for that purpose, the budget structure and priority sector-based resource distribution and resource mobilization. The victory story of the July 2024 mass uprising will be included at the beginning of the speech. 2024 was another glorious chapter in the history of Bangladesh. The flames of the mass uprising united the entire nation in a common dream of establishing justice, democracy and people’s rights. The people of Bangladesh woke up in the heat of that struggle; they understood that liberation comes only when they unite against injustice. This awakening will be echoed in the budget speech of the next fiscal year.
In this regard, economist and chairman of the only state-owned investment institution, Investment Corporation of Bangladesh (ICB), Professor Abu Ahmed told our time, ‘The July Revolution is the existence of Bangladesh. Therefore, it must be highlighted in the budget speech.’
According to sources in the Finance Department, Finance Secretary Dr. Md. Khayeruzzaman Majumder has already asked all ministries, divisions and subordinate offices/agencies to submit reports by March 15 to make the budget speech information-rich and present valuable documents of the government’s ongoing and future activities.
It is learned that major changes are being made in the budget for the next fiscal year 2025-26. In the last 15 years, the fascist Sheikh Hasina government has presented an ambitious budget through many unnecessary projects. These ambitious budgets were not fully implemented. They were cut at the end of the year. However, the interim government is preparing a budget in light of reality. The work of preparing an implementable budget is underway.
It is known that in the last meeting on resource and budget management, a draft budget of 848 thousand crore taka was presented for the next fiscal year. Out of this, the size of the Annual Development Program (ADP) was estimated at 270 thousand crore taka. But now instructions have been given to reduce the size of the budget somewhat. For this, it has been suggested to reduce the size of the ADP as well. In light of this, a draft budget is being prepared by the Finance Department.
It is known that in the budget for the next fiscal year, several steps will be taken to increase the revenue income from the domestic sector of the country. Potential income taxpayers will be identified at the district and upazila levels to expand the tax net. Efforts will be made to collect more revenue from the income tax sector in the budget.
According to sources in the Finance Department, the main priority of the budget for the upcoming 2025-26 fiscal year has been identified as establishing good governance in every field. There will be a direction to establish a corruption-free administration and society and to build an equality-based country by eliminating inequality in food, housing, economy, health, education and social sectors. The second priority will be various reform activities, inflation control, employment and investment increase.
According to the source, the government is going to present this first restrictive budget to reduce inflation and restore balance in the macro economy. For this, the reins of public sector expenditure are also being tightened. Along with this, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has suggested tightening the reins of development expenditure for the time being. This will reduce the flow of cash in the market, which, according to the IMF and the Finance Department, will play a very effective role in controlling inflation.
The country’s economic growth has already slowed down, which is affecting investment and employment. Such a slowdown will continue for at least two more years. As a result, GDP growth may come down to 3.8 percent by the end of this year. However, the IMF has predicted that this growth will start increasing again after two years. For this, a plan is being made to improve the stagnant state of the economy with a restrictive budget for the time being.
At a book launch event on Tuesday, Financial Advisor Salehuddin Ahmed said, “I have already said that growth will not be high this year. But don’t panic.” He assured, “There will be no shortage of rice and pulses. The government has made arrangements so that people do not have to suffer for their livelihood. The country has come back from the edge of the ditch. Although we have taken many reform initiatives, we will not be able to reform too much. However, we will leave some footprints. Especially, the policy and administrative separation of the NBR will be done. We are giving time, we have to leave by December. As a result, not so many reforms can be done.”
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