Waseqa Ayesha Khan, the state minister of finance, announced today that the government will raise the number of people receiving social safety net benefits in the next budget for the upcoming fiscal year 2024–2025 (FY25).
“The number of beneficiaries under the social safety net programme is being increased to give relief to low-income people,” she told BSS after a special meeting on the Prime Minister’s direction on budget at the Prime Minister’s office in the city.
Waseqa stated that the government will give inflation management the highest priority in the budget when speaking with BSS at her Secretariat office.
Waseqa stated, “The Prime Minister has given utmost importance on inflation control,” in reference to the Prime Minister’s directives about the upcoming budget’s preparation. Additionally, she gave the order that the budget’s first priority should be the Awami League’s electoral manifesto.
She stated that the 2019 budget will give the highest priority to the sectors of health, education, and rural infrastructure.
Regarding the withdrawal of tax holiday benefits in the budget, she said that the government is specifically looking into the matter of removing the tax holiday benefits from those sectors which have been getting tax holiday benefits for a long time.
“Some sectors have been getting tax holiday benefits for the last 20 to 25 years. Due to this advantage, now they have gained enough capacity and have captured the market of the country. In such a situation, they are supposed to focus on exports, but they are not doing it,” she added.
She reasoned that the business owners in these industries would concentrate on exports if the extra advantages of tax breaks were eliminated.
According to Waseqa, these industries will lose out on extra benefits if the tax holidays are eliminated, but exports will allow them to make up for it.
“We need to go in that direction for the sake of sustainable economy,” she added
