The Taka 7,97,000 crore national budget for FY25 was approved by the Jatiya Sangsad (JS) today, with a primary goal of preserving economic stability and accelerating efforts to realise the government’s “Smart Bangladesh” vision.
The next fiscal budget aimed to boost GDP by 6.75 percent while keeping inflation under 6.50 percent, despite the unstable global economy and challenges.
The Appropriations Bill, 2024, introduced by Finance Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali, requested a financial allocation of Taka 12,41,752 crore, and it was approved by voice vote.
Earlier yesterday, the parliament passed the Finance Bill, 2024 with some minor changes. Following the proposal mooted in the House by the Finance Ministry for the parliamentary approval of the appropriation of funds for meeting necessary development and non-development expenditures of the government, the ministers concerned placed justifications for the expenditure by their respective ministries through 59 demands for grants.
Earlier, the Jatiya Sangsad rejected 251 cut-motions, or requests for grants for various ministries, made on behalf of opposition members, by voice votes.
The cut motions were put forth by a total of seven MPs, including Md. Hamidul Haque Khandker, Md. Nasser Shahrear Zahedee, Md. Abul Kalam, Md. Suhrab Uddin, and Md. Mujibul Huq of the Jatiya Party.
Nonetheless, they were permitted to take part in the conversation regarding the Social Welfare Ministry, Secondary and Higher Education Division, and Law Ministry. Subsequently, without taking a lunch break, Speaker Dr. Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury expedited the process of passing the grant requests for several ministries.
Opposition and independent MPs were present in the House when the Appropriations Bill was passed, and they did not raise any objection to the passing of the bill.
The budget size (Taka 7,97,000 crore) for FY25 is 4.60 percent or around Taka 35,215 crore higher than the budget of the outgoing fiscal FY24. The country’s GDP size has been estimated at Taka 55,97,414 crore.
However, in the amended budget for the upcoming fiscal year 2023–2024, the government has cut spending by Taka 47,367 crore, bringing it down to Taka 714,418 crore.
Total government spending was projected to be Taka 7,61,785 crore in the FY24 budget.
In addition to the Taka 2,65,000 crore Annual Development Programme (ADP) outlay that has already been approved, the 2019 budget was projected to have a deficit of Taka 2,56,000 crore, grants excluded.
The total budget deficit is Taka 2,51,600 crore if the grants are taken into account.
In the budget, a total allocation of Taka 2,06,569 crore has been earmarked for the social infrastructure, which constitutes 25.92 percent of the total allocation. For physical infrastructure, an allocation of Taka 2,16,111 crore has been made, which constitutes 27.12 percent of the total allocation.
A total of Taka 1,68,701 crore, or 21.17 percent of the total, has been allocated for the common service sector. It is important to remember that the goal of progressively raising interest rates since 2022 has been to contain inflation in the western world.
