Kazi Zahidul Hasan :
Economists on Tuesday said that the government should set its economic priorities in the next budget avoiding large-scale public expenditure in unnecessary projects under political consideration.
They said the budget should not trade compromise for partisan flavour rather it should focus on prevailing economic realities to set income and expenditure targets as well as resource allocation in various sectors.
They also laid emphasis on enhancing administrative capacity of the government agencies to reverse their old trend of poor budget implementation and improving the country’s sluggish investment climate to spur economic growth.
“The government should not be traded compromise for partisan flavour while presenting the budget rather it should focus on economic realities to make a balance between the income and expenditure,” Dr AB Mirza Azizul Islam, a noted economist of the country, told The New Nation yesterday.
He added: It should also provide necessary budgetary allocations to the productive sectors and go for spending cuts in non-development budget.
Mirza Azizul Islam, who was a former finance adviser of the caretaker government, expects that the next budget should place a greater emphasis on improving investment climate which remain sluggish for the last few years.
“Without improvement in the investment climate the key budgetary goals may not be achieved,” he added.
He also laid emphasis on enhancing administrative capacity of the government agencies to come out from their poor budget implementation capacity.
Referring to the figures of Planning Ministry, Mirza Azizul Islam, the rate of ADP implementation this fiscal year is the poorest in the past five years proving that the government agencies are not capable in implementing the development project timely despite allocation of necessary funds.
“This is a critical area which should be addressed immediately to spur economic growth and job creation,” he added.
Commenting on the size of the next budget (2016-17 fiscal), Mirza Azizul Islam said, the total outlay of the next budget will be set at Tk 3.40 trillion as hinted by the finance minister.
“In my mind, the size of the next budget is not realistic if we consider the current economic situation of the country. I am in doubt to the implementation of budgetary targets. The government may opt for such a big budget only from its political point of view,” he added.
Finance Minister AMA Muhith will present the national budget for the fiscal year 2016-17 in the parliament on Thursday.
“I expect a balance budget in which the government must fix the spending priorities on the basis of prevailing economic condition. Pragmatic budgetary measures are needed to boost investment in both public and private sectors,” Dr Salehuddin Ahmed, former Bangladesh Bank Governor told The New Nation on Tuesday.
The upcoming national budget should give trust on human resource development, enhance revenue collection, export diversification and necessary reforms for improving governance and capacity building of government agencies.
The former BB governor also said that the budget should put on more focus on development of energy, infrastructure and industrial sectors to accelerate GDP growth and create job opportunities.
