The Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), a leading think tank, on Thursday said the proposed budget for 2020-21 was announced with a ‘weak structure’ as resource collection target in the budget is not realistic amid the existing situation of Covid-19.
Distinguished Fellow of CPD Professor Mustafizur Rahman made the remark in an instant reaction on Thursday evening after announcement of the budget in the parliament.
He said Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal targeted to collect revenue around Tk 378,000 crore, that is not realistic amid the situation.
“We think that not more than Tk 250,000 core will be collected this year in the prevailing situation. Besides, it’s thought that we can overcome the impact of the COVID-19 in a short time. As the health risks of the virus are increasing day by day in the country, we can’t think that the situation will be normal soon. The country’s economy is at risk too,” he added.
The noted economist said it was a positive that health, social safety net programme, and the agriculture sector have received emphasis in the proposed budget.
“But the allocation for social protection programme should be further increased as a number of people lost their jobs amid the lockdown. Besides, disparity increased in the country and income of people came down here. So social protection is very significant now,” he added.
Mustafizur Rahman said the process of black money-whitening is not acceptable from an ethical perspective. Besides, there is no profitable perspective for the economy either. It won’t even go towards supporting the government.
“It’s not clear how money will be saved from the Annual Development Programme (ADP) to meet the deficit of the budget,” he added.
CPD will hold another programme to inform their observation on the proposed budget on Friday, Mustafiz added.
