Kazi Zahidul Hasan :Finance Minister AMA Muhith presented the new national budget for 2015-16 fiscal at the Jatiya Sangsad on Thursday, promising development of the country’s rickety infrastructures for promoting investment to boost the economy and job creation.Rolling out a total of Tk 2,95,100 crore proposed national budget, 18.0 per cent higher over outlays of FY 2014-15, the Finance Minister outlined the government’s fiscal plan for the next one year, with enhanced budgetary allocation to education, power, energy and communication sectors.Muhith in his budget speech said, “Total expenditure for FY 2015-16 has been estimated at Tk 2,95,100 crore. Taking ADP allocation for autonomous bodies to the tune of Tk 3,996 crore into account, the size of the total budget will stand at approximately Tk 300,000 crore”. In his 96-page budget speech titled, “Marches Towards Prosperity Paving the Way For Higher Growth”, the bureaucrat turned politician also proposed various fiscal measures for boosting confidence of businesses to lure private investment which remained sluggish for the last few years in absence of congenial atmosphere for investors.Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Leader of the Opposition Rawshan Ershad, Jatiya Party Chief HM Ershad and Cabinet Members were present when Muhith placed the budget of Awami League (AL) government that returned to power for a second consecutive term after its victory in January 5 polls last year.According to the fiscal documents, the allocation for non-development and other expenditure has been estimated at Tk 1,98,100 crore (11.5 per cent of GDP). Development expenditure Tk 1,02,559 crore with an allocation of Tk 97,000 crore for ADP (Annual Development Programme). With the allocation of Tk 3,996 crore for autonomous bodies, total development expenditure stands at Tk 1,00,996 crore which is 11.6 per cent of GDP. “Like, previous years, we have determined the size of the ADP focusing on regional parity, human resource development, infrastructural development and quality spending,” added Muhith.The Finance Minister proposed to allocate 22.0 per cent of the development outlay to the human resource sector (education, health and other related sectors) 25.3 per cent to overall agriculture sector 19.1 per cent to power and energy sector 22.3 per cent to communication sector and 11.4 per cent to other sectors.According to the proposed budget, the revenue receipts for FY 2015-16 has been estimated at Tk 2,08,443 crore which is 12.1 per cent of GDP and of which Tk 1,76,370 will come from the National Board of Revenue (NBR) and Tk 5,874 crore from Non-NBR sources.In addition, Tk 26,199 crore will be collected as Non-Tax Revenue (NTR).Muhith expressed the hope of achieving the revenue collection target given the comprehensive reforms in NBR tax collection potentials and stability in economic environment.The overall budget deficit will be Tk 86,657 crore, which is 5 per cent of GDP. Of the amount, Tk 30,134 crore will be financed from the external sources and Tk 56,523 crore from domestic sources.Of the domestic financing, Tk 38,000 crore will come from the banking system and Tk 18,000 crore from savings certificates and other non-banking sources.The Finance Minister said the average inflation rate gradually declined and stood at 6.6 per cent by end of April is expected to slide further down in the FY 2015-16 supported by fall in international oil prices, bumper crop production, improvement in domestic distribution system and impact of restrained monetary policy. “Taking all these into account, we are setting inflation target at 6.2 per cent for FY 2015-16,” Muhith added.The new budget has projected GDP growth rate at 7.0 per cent for the next fiscal. “Over the last few years, real GDP growth remained trapped within the bound of 6.0 to 6.5 per cent trajectory. In fact, GDP growth rate averaged 6.2 per cent in the last five years which is not commensurate with our ultimate goal of graduating to a developed and prosperous country from the least developed country status 2041. “Under the 7th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020), we are contemplating gradually accelerate the GDP growth and raise it to 8.0 per cent by 2019-20,” to achieve the goal” the Finance Minister added.Considering the prevailing inflation, increased cost of living and to reduce tax burden for marginal tax-payers, Muhith proposed to raise tax-exemption threshold for individual tax-payers from Tk 2, 20,000 to Tk 2,50,000. He also proposed to cut corporate tax for publicly traded company from 27.5 per cent to 25 per cent, decrease tax rate from 42.5 per cent to 40 per cent for publicly traded bank, insurance and financial institutions. Earlier, the Cabinet approved the proposed budget for the fiscal 2015-2016 in a meeting held at Parliament Secretariat.With Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair, the meeting was also attended by Finance Minister AMA Muhith and other Cabinet Ministers, State Ministers and secretaries. Muhith also placed Finance Bill-2015 in the Jatiya Sangsad.
