Al Amin :
Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal unveiled the proposed national budget for the fiscal year (FY) 2022-23 at Jatiya Sangsad on Thursday, with the focus on inflation control, job creation and to address macroeconomic challenges, caused by the coronavirus pandemic and Russia-Ukraine war.
The total size of the new budget is Tk 6,78,064 crore (around 15.3 per cent of the GDP) and Tk 74,383 crore higher than the original budget area of the outgoing fiscal year (FY22) which was Tk 6,03,681 crore. The original budget of the outgoing fiscal year controlled about 17.5 per cent of GDP.
Out of the total budget size, the government allocated Tk 4,11,406 crore as operating expenditure including Tk 76,412 crore as the salaries and allowances of the public servants, Tk 73,175 crore as the interest payment of the domestic loans and Tk 7,200 crore as the interests servicing of the foreign loans.
In his budget speech, Mustafa Kamal said, “The budget of FY2022-23 has been prepared keeping in mind the recovery of our economy from economic crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine War.”
He placed the country’s biggest ever budget that titled “Return to the Path of Development Leaving the Covid-19 behind.”
President Abdul Hamid witnessed the deliberation of budget speech from the gallery at the Jatiya Sangsad.
Besides, Leader of the House and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was also present at the August House.
As the overall inflation rate continue to rise in the country, the finance minister in his budget speech said, “The government is committed to contain the rising trend of inflation by addressing inconsistencies between the supply and demand. Although it remained under control until the first quarter of this year, there has been a recent spike, mainly due to external and some internal factors.
The causes of inflation at the global level include, among others, rising inflation in trade partners, rising oil prices, depreciation of taka against $ dollar, disruption of global supply chain and Russia -Ukraine crisis -all of which are largely beyond our control.”
He also said the government crafted strategies for the coming days considering the potential economic risks posed by the Russian-Ukraine conflict.
In the proposed budget, the revenue collection target has been estimated at Tk 4,33,000 crore, an increase of 9.0 per cent from the revenue target of the outgoing fiscal year.
The overall revenue collection target in the outgoing fiscal year (FY22) was earlier set for Tk 3,89,000 crore which was 11.3 per cent of GDP.
In the new budget, the National Board of Revenue (NBR) has given the task of collecting Tk 3,70,000 crore, which is Tk 40,000 crore or 12 per cent higher than the outgoing fiscal year, and the rest will come from non-NBR revenue and non-tax revenue.
The proposed budget has set a target of mobilizing Tk 18,000 crore non-NBR revenue and Tk 45,000 crore non-tax revenue. It was Tk 16,000 crore and 43,000 crore respectively in the outgoing fiscal year.
Meanwhile, the budget deficit has been projected for Tk 2,45,064 crore ( 5.5 per cent of GDP) which is Tk 30,383 crore higher than the original budget deficit of Tk 2,14,681 crore in the outgoing fiscal year. The budget deficit in the outgoing fiscal year was earlier set at 6.2 per cent of GDP.
To finance the deficit budget, the government has set a target to borrow Tk 1,46,335 crore from domestic sources. Of the amount, Tk 1,06,334 crore will be borrowed from the banking sector, Tk 35,000 crore from the savings certificates and the Tk 5,001 crore from other sources.
Besides, the government has set a target to get Tk 95,458 crore from the foreign sources as loans and grants.
In the proposed budget, the government allocated Tk 82,745 crore as subsidy against various sectors which is 1.9 per cent of the GDP. In the revised budget of the outgoing fiscal year, the total subsidy amount has been estimated is Tk 66,825 crore or 1.7 per cent of GDP.
The proposed budget has set a goal of achieving 7.5 per cent the GDP growth despite persisting challenges on the economy and keeping the inflation rate 5.5 per cent.
Earlier, the government approved an outlay of Tk 2,44,000 core for the annual development program (ADP) for the fiscal year 2022-23.
The new budget has allocated Tk 16,000 crore as subsidy for the agriculture sector which is Tk 4,000 crore more than the subsidy provided in the last fiscal year.
“To meet the expenditure of fertilizer and other agricultural incentives, Tk 12,000 crore has been allocated in the revised budget of FY2021-22…Tk 16,000 crore has been allocated in the proposed budget for FY2022-23,” Kamal said.
In the FY23 budget, the finance minister proposed to allocate Tk 1,83,000 crore for the social infrastructure which is 27.05 per cent of the total budgetary allocation.
Out of this, allocation for the human resources sector (education, health and other related sectors) is Tk 1,67,000 crore.
He also proposed Tk 2,00,000 crore allocation for physical infrastructure sector which is 29.62 per cent of the total budget.
The new budget has set Tk113,576 crore for social safety net programmes, which is 16.75 per cent of the total budget and 2.55 per cent of GDP.
