Staff Reporter :
Finance Minister AMA Muhith on Tuesday continued to face lawmakers’ wrath in Parliament with Jatiya Party’s demand for his resignation.
JP lawmaker Ziauddin Ahmed Bablu also criticised Muhith for his proposal for providing Tk. 2000 crore to the state-run banks, demanding his immediate resignation.
Bablu pointed finger at Muhith who said he would infuse Tk 2,000 crore into state-run banks in the fiscal 2017-18 to recoup ‘the losses incurred for looting’.
“A criminal charge should be brought against him. How can he make such a proposal? It goes against ethics and law’, he said.
“He is a respectable person. Now he should resign from his post. Please give relief to the 16 crore country people by quitting with dignity,” Bablu said.
Earlier on Monday, treasury bench members in Parliament came down heavily on Muhith for proposing excise duty on bank accounts and a unified VAT.
In his budget speech on June 1, the Finance Minister proposed the new VAT, which is going to impose a uniform 15 percent VAT rate.
Muhith also proposed imposition of Tk 800 excise duty instead of the existing Tk 500 in cases where the balance, whether debit or credit, exceeds Tk 1 lakh but does not exceed the limit of Tk 10 lakh.
Similarly, Tk 2,500 excise duty will be imposed instead of the existing Tk 1,500 in cases where the balance exceeds Tk 10 lakh but does not exceed the limit of Tk 1 crore; Tk 12,000 will be imposed instead of the existing Tk 7,500 in cases where the balance exceeds Tk 1 crore but does not exceed the limit of Tk 5 crore and Tk 25,000 will be imposed instead of the existing Tk 15,000 in cases where the balance exceeds Tk 5 crore.
The JP lawmaker also said he (Muhith) has no right to provide taxpayers’ money to the banks to make up for the capital deficit caused by plundering.
“The finance minister also provided fund from the public money to the banks in 2014, 2015 and 2016 fiscal years. But he or the government was not supposed to recapitalise the banks with the taxpayers’ money,” Ziauddn said.
Expressing doubt over the fulfillment of the huge budget deficit, the Jatiya Party MP said the budget deficit is Tk 112,275 crore. “But where the money will come from to make up for the deficit and what will be the sources of the money?”
“Don’t live in the fantasy world. Come down to the earth,” Bablu said, pointing at Muhith.
Noting that banks have been kept alive with oxygen and taken to the intensive care unit (ICU), Bablu said the country’s banks have classified loan of Tk 116,000 crore.
“The banking sector is now on the verge of destruction. The money from the sector is being plundered and siphoned off, but the Finance Minister said nothing about it in his budget speech,” he added.
The opposition MP said the government now takes credit for the high GDP growth rate but the GDP growth is not only the parameter for development as it is one of the parameters.
Noting that the rate of educated unemployed is now three times higher than non-educated unemployed ones, he said if the GDP growth had been very high, huge jobs would have been created as there is a correlation. “This is, in fact, a budget of sufferings.”
JP MP Kazi Firoz Rashid also demanded Muhith’s resignation for his proposal for infusing a hefty amount of taxpayers’ money into losing state-run banks.
Muhith on Tuesday said the decision regarding changes in the new value added tax (VAT) law implementation will be announced on June 28 after discussions in the Jatiya Sangsad.
“Discussions on implementation of the new VAT law are underway in the national parliament. We will announce the decision on new VAT law implementation when the proposed budget will be passed,” he told journalists at a function at the Finance Ministry in the city.
Regarding the proposed excise duty on bank deposits, he said, the decision will be changed when the budget will be passed in the Jatiya Sangsad.
