CPD RMG Study Stitching a better future for Bangladesh
Published in the Financial Express on 1, June 2017
Finance Minister AMA Muhith has presented the national budget of Tk 4.0 trillion for the fiscal year 2017-18. This is his 11th budget, ninth at a stretch. He placed the budget at 1:38 p.m. in the parliament with a target of 7.4 per cent growth of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Muhith also wants to contain annual inflation rate within 5.5 per cent.
The lofty budget sets a target of Tk 2.88 trillion revenue earnings, of which Tk 2.48 trillion will be collected by the National Board of Revenue (NBR).
The proposed budget is equivalent to less than 18 per cent of Bangladesh’s GDP or gross domestic product.
This happens to be the last full-fledged budget in the Awami League-led government’s present tenure, as the next general election is due halfway through the financial year 2018-19.
Muhith aimed at collecting Tk 2.88 trillion in revenues under this budget and the total revenues will have to be increased by 29 per cent to cover this hefty amount.
A big chunk of it will come from the National Board of Revenue (NBR) which is eyeing a 34 per ent enhanced collection of Tk 2.48 trillion.
The remainder will come from non-tax revenues like profits and dividends of government-owned enterprises, and the third-biggest sources is non-NBR.
The deficit worth Tk 1.12 trillion, which is equivalent to around 5.7 per cent of GDP, will be financed from both internal and external sources.
Of the total budgetary outlay, Tk 1.53 trillion would be set aside for development expenditure and the rest for non-development spending.
Bangladesh government expects the GDP in nominal terms at Tk 22.243 trillion at the end of the financial year to June 30, 2018.
After coming to power on Jan 6, 2009, the Awami League government inherited a budget from the caretaker government for the first six months of its tenure.
Finance Minister Muhith unveiled his first full budget for financial year 2010, and the size of that budget was below Tk 1.0 trillion.
