Before the national budget for fiscal 2022-23 was presented in Parliament on Wednesday, there was a conjecture with expectation that the budget would squarely face the current high inflation that has pushed a large section of people in society towards the breaking point. But contrary to the expectation, the proposed budget fails to adequately address inflation or unprecedented price rise of commodities in the aftermath of Covid-19 pandemic and Russia-Ukraine war.
Coupled with this unaddressed issue is the poor allocation in the budget for the government’s safety net programmes. These two shortcomings in the budget that are going to severely affect people in the lower rung of society are not only unexpected but in a sense cruel also. Leaving a section of people to fate for their survival with the hope that everything in the economy would be automatically solved is irresponsible for any government in modern times.
However, the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), a well-known economic think-tank of the country, has also highlighted the poorly addressed inflationary issues with great importance in its post budget discussion. The proposed budget has not only come short on inflation but has also encouraged illicit income and provided more support to the rich ignoring the needs of the low and the middle income groups of people at bay in line with the faults of a capitalist society unchecked by social justice.
In the budget, there are discrepancies in figures also. Quoting the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh, a national daily on Thursday mentioned that prices of some essential commodities have shot up by 40-45 per cent. But the government says inflation in the country increased to only 6.29 per cent in April. Many economic experts believe the actual inflation could well be in the double digit.
In the proposed budget, Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal set the target of inflation at 5.6 per cent, which the CPD rightly pointed out that this does not corroborate the economic reality on the ground.
True, the present hike in inflation is part of a global crisis, but that does not mean that the government here in Bangladesh would pamper the well-off and rich people without any check on corruption. Even when with Tk 50,000 income per month a family of five members in the capital can hardly make the ends meet, keeping the tax-free income limit to Tk 300,000 in the budget seems also irrational.
Before passing the budget, therefore, the finance minister needs to bring changes on these points, withdrawing or cutting down taxes on important commodities as well as increasing handsomely funds for the social safety net programmes that may help the poor survive a little better.
