Keeping in mind the devastating impact of coronavirus and long, arduous road to recovery, the government has prepared a draft budget of Tk 550,000 crore for the next fiscal year, up 5 per cent from this year’s.
The size of the budget is not final, however, and it would be fixed at a meeting between Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal on May 5, said officials of the finance ministry.
The meeting will discuss the size, revenue collection, priorities for fiscal 2020-21 and strategies to be to revive the economy post COVID-19, the officials said.
The next budget will focus on food security, so the government is thinking about ensuring food at lower cost for the millions of people who have lost jobs suddenly. The agriculture sector would also get additional incentive, an official said.
The finance division has sent earmarked Tk 205,145 crore for the annual development programme (ADP), which is 6 per cent higher than current year’s.
The finance ministry has asked the planning ministry to prepare the ADP allocation by May 15.
If the allocation can’t be approved at a meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council, the highest policymaking body of the government, because of the movement control order and social distancing, it would be passed by the executive order of the prime minister.
Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal is expected to unveil the budget in parliament on June 11. However, everything will depend on how the coronavirus situation unfolds.
If the pandemic is not contained, an interim budget for short-term may be declared under a special provision of the Constitution.
Social safety net schemes are set to get prime focus in next fiscal year’s budget as the government looks to pull the economy and the people out of the crisis.
The budget would incorporate the spending the government would have to incur in order to implement the Tk 95,619 crore stimulus packages, which are equivalent to 3.5 per cent of the gross domestic product.
