Former caretaker government adviser M Hafiz Uddin Khan, former Bangladesh Bank governor Saleh Uddin Ahmed, Shushashoner Jannoy Nagorik secretary general Badiul Alam Majumder, former cabinet secretary Ali Imam Majumder and SHUJAN member Syed Abu Naser at a roundtable discussion titled ‘Budget Proposal 2018-2019: Citizen Thinking’ oraganised by SHUJAN at the National Press Club in Dhaka on Monday. — New Age photo
The proposed national budget for the upcoming fiscal year is not public welfare-oriented, rather it is aimed at appeasing a section of influential people, said economists and rights campaigners at a roundtable discussion on Monday.
They said in the budget the government focused mostly on the indirect taxes that are collected from the poor section of people while it reduced direct taxes that favoured the rich section of people.
Shushashoner Jannoy Nagorik (SHUJAN), a citizens’ platform advocating good governance, organised the discussion titled ‘Budget Proposal 2018-2019: Citizen Thinking’ at the National Press Club in Dhaka on Monday.
The government has kept people asleep with ‘dope of developments’, while the relative poverty has increased in the country, the economists and rights campaigners said.
They said that the word ‘development’ had been misused that kept the main poverty problem out of sight.
Only a few people became affluent, but the overall poverty did not decrease in the country, they said.
Former Bangladesh Bank governor Saleh Uddin Ahmed said a certain section of people would get more benefit from the budget and this section of pepole would benefit the government in the national elections.
The country’s economic growth is not sustainable, rather it is vulnerable, he said, adding that lack of transparency and good governance hurt the country’s financial sector.
The government has been giving ‘perverse’ incentives to the scam-hit banking sector without bringing the criminals to book that is farcical, he said.
‘There is no accountability for any misdeed in the country, which encourges criminals to commit crimes,’ Saleh Uddin said.
The proprosed budget lacks significance and it is not a public welfare budget, he said.
He said the government did not give importance to the education and health sectors, two major sectors for all stratas of people in the country.
The government pressure on the banking sector for loans would reduce investment in the private sector, he said.
The former BB governor said the government should enhance the capability of the policymakers, regulators and senior government officials to implement the budget in a proper and sustainable way.
He disagreed with the finance ministry’s calim that the capability of the Natiuonal Board of Revenue increased.
Former caretaker government adviser M Hafiz Uddin Khan said that the bailout of the banking sector should be discontinued and all the culprits involved in the banking sector scams should be punished to stabalise the financial sector.
SHUJAN secretary general Badiul Alam Majumder said that the garment sector was not the only potential sector in the country, there were other sectors too.
‘The government should focus on the demographic dividend and facilitate the youth by providing more allocation in the budget for the education sector and enhancing job opportunites for them,’ he said.
He said that a huge amount of money was laundered aboard every year, but the government remained mum over the issue.
‘There would be mega corruption in the name of mega projects. Corruption spreads to all sectors in the name of developments,’ said Badiul Alam.
He also said that the government should stop the plundering in the banking sector, otherwise the next generation would have to face the burden of the catastrophe.
Former cabinet secretary Ali Imam Majumder said that the gap between the rich and the poor increased in the country.
He said that subsidy needed to be increased for the agriculture sector.
Zonayed Saki, the chief coordinator of Ganasanghati Andolan, said that installation or implementation of some big projects was not development, the development was what benefits people would get from the projects.
‘This budget offers benefits to a particular section of people that could benefit the government in the next elections,’ he said.
SHUJAN member Syed Abu Naser said, ‘The rich dodges taxes while the poor cannot avoid taxes. There should be instruction in the budget in this regard.’
