DHAKA: Finance Minister AMA Muhith later Thursday will unfold in JS a new national budget of about Tk 192,000 crore for the fiscal 2012-13 keeping the budget deficit at 4.4 per cent of the GDP.
The minister will place his fourth budget in the Jatiya Sangsad after it meets at 3:00 pm today.
The budget is virtually the last full budget of this Awami League-led grand alliance government. It is likely to be a populist budget with an eye on the next general election scheduled early 2014. The finance minister would have to do the job of maintaining the subtle balance between the demand for restoring the fiscal discipline and the electorate pressure for low tax regime.
The budget would be placed leaving behind a turbulent fiscal year which was termed by many as the worst of the three fiscal years during the tenure of the present government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
The revenue expenditure of the budget will be around Tk 111,675 crore and it will have an annual development programme of TK 55,000 crore.
The tax revenue is estimated at Tk 139,760 crore and the budget deficit is likely to stand at Tk 46,024 crore.
Muhith earlier said, the ensuing budget would target faster economic growth which requires macroeconomic stability and social equity.
He said, the budget would simultaneously focus on rural economies, agriculture, industries and infrastructure.
Special attention will be given on the power and energy sector, he said.
The leading economists of the country however, said, attaining over 7 per cent GDP growth in the coming fiscal year would be tough for the country in the wake of high expenditure, excess subsidy, double digit inflation and the slowdown of investments and declining foreign aids.
Asked about his expectations regarding the ensuing budget, the former Finance Adviser to the caretaker government Dr A B Mirza Azizul Islam said, the government should focus on poverty reduction as a key target and more funds should be dedicated for Social Safety Net (SSN) to further bring down poverty from the existing rate of 32.5 per cent.
He pointed out that safety net programmes contributed to help the poor in the past 25 years.
He said, the government would have to take a decision on subsidy on political considerations despite conditions imposed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for accessing Extended Credit Facility worth about US $1 billion.
He also hoped that the government would take special measures and invest more funds in the next fiscal year’s budget to generate employment.
“Restoring the fiscal discipline would be a major challenge in the coming fiscal year and lax macroeconomic management has been greatly responsible for many of the recent economic woes”, said distinguished fellow of the Centre for the Policy Dialogue Dr Debapriay Bhattacharya.
He said, by deferring Tk 10 thousand crores of subsidy payments to the upcoming budget and allocating unsustainably low amount for subsidy and transfer, the government has destabilised the budgetary management, he noted.
Source: theindependentbd.com
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