Economists and business leaders at a seminar on Saturday advised the government to be ‘realistic’ in preparing the budget for fiscal 2014-15 in a bid to bring balance between the prevailing resource constraints and lack of budget implementation capacity.
Suggesting the size of next budget at Tk 234,000 crore they said, if it goes up to Tk 250,000 crore, it would be a papery budget, not a realistic one.
They also said that the upcoming national budget should focus on growth, investment, education, job creation, health, nutrition and infrastructure development.
The need for ensuring political stability also figured at the seminar titled, “Upcoming Budget: Promises and Challenges,” organized by Economic Reporters Forum (ERF) held at Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
ERF president Sultan Mahmud Badal presided over the seminar, while its General Secretary Sajjadur Rahman presented the theme. Senior journalist Farid Hossain moderated the function.
“Unless a political stability is ensured, local and foreign investors will continue to feel reluctant to invest in the country,” said former caretaker government’s advisor Mirza Azizul Islam.
He said huge investment is needed to generate employment, which is critical for the country’s development.
Former Governor of Bangladesh Bank Dr Salahuddin Ahmed said, a national budget should consider the needs of the people rather than just incremental increase in size.
He said weakness in the financial management has been the key problem affecting other sectors.
“We need a realistic budget. The highest allocation should be made in education and nutrition,” he said.
The government should go for collecting direct tax which is more effective in increasing the revenue.
He criticized the government for including less important projects in the annual development porogramme.
Chairman of Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation (PKSF) Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad said budget should have some policy frameworks for the welfare of the people.
He said in last few years allocation in education in terms of amount has increased, but it decreased in terms of percentage. “The government must pay attention to this issue. All segments of the society have to be paid attention so that they could improve their livelihood”.
He observed that the current rate of inflation at around 7.8 percent is considered high. What is worrying is that food inflation is rising. With 33 per cent unemployment the job situation is very bad, he said.
He said his organization has recently got 8000 applications for only 21 posts. In another 52000 people applied for 76 posts. BGMEA President Atiqul Islam called for special government support to help garment factory owners relocate their factories which are being declared unsafe by foreign inspectors.
Chairman of Chittagong Stock Exchange Muhammad Abdul Mazid said government spending gets unusually high towards the end of the fiscal year, which falls during monsoon. “Why should we continue with a fiscal year that starts in monsoon and ends in monsoon?”, he wondered.
He proposed March-April as start of the financial year.
Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) distinguished fellow Dr. Debapriya Bhattacharya said the GDP growth has gone below six percent in the current fiscal, the fourth consecutive fall in the country’s growth rate.
He observed that the private sector investment has marked a serious decline “The country is going through investment-barrenness. It started much before the political unrest that started in mid last year,” he said.
He said the investors do not keep confidence in the government’s budget target as in most of the cases those are not taken up on realistic basis.
He also observed that the government has failed to bring any change in the reforms of the public institutions.
He said there has been no sign of economic recovery after the recent general election.
FBCCI President Kazi Akram Uddin Ahmed spoke highly of the country’s women entrepreneurs. He said they should be given funds so they can spread their businesses.
“We must have dreams to develop our country,” he said.
Former FBCCI president Abdul Awal Mintoo said, the budget should focus on poverty alleviation. Attaining the middle-income status does not always reduce poverty, he said.
Dr. Binayek Sen said, a key challenge of the budget is meeting the critical infrastructure needs. “Investment should be made for the critical infrastructures,” he said.
Former REHAB president Tawfiq M Seraj said the real-estate sector which employs the most unskilled manpower, is now experiencing its worst days as the sales have turned negative. Many have cancelled bookings.
Textile Mills Association director Rakib Haider said his sector needs government policy support. Otherwise, it will be difficult to sustain in the competition with Indian textile industry which receives incentives from the Indian government.
The seminar was, addressed among others, by DCCI President Shahjahan Khan, President of AmChams Aftabul Islam, President of Exporters Association of Bangladesh Abdus Salam Murshedy and ex-president of Dhaka Stock Exchange Rakibur Rahman.
