DHAKA: Parliament on Tuesday (June 30) passed the Taka 5,68,000 crore national budget for the next fiscal year (2020-21) with a target of attaining 8.2 percent GDP growth.
Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal moved the Appropriations Bill, 2020 to the House seeking a budgetary allocation of Taka 7,59,642.44 crore which was passed by voice vote.
Following the proposal mooted in the House by the finance ministry for the parliamentary approval of appropriation of fund for meeting necessary development and non-development expenditures of the government, the ministers concerned placed justifications for the expenditures by their respective ministries, through 59 demands for grants.
Earlier, parliament rejected by voice vote a total of 421 cut-motions that stood in the name of opposition members on 59 demands for grants for different ministries.
A total of nine MPs from Jatiya Party and BNP submitted their cut-motions on the budget. They are– Kazi Firoze Rashid, Mujibul Huq, Fakhrul Imam, Pir Fazlur Rahman, Shamim Haider Patwari, Liaquat Hossain Khoka, Begum Rawshan Ara Mannan, Harun Ur Rashid and Rumeen Farhana.
They, however, were allowed to participate in the discussion on Law Ministry and Health Ministry.
Later, Speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury applied guillotine to quicken the process of passing the demands for grants for different ministries without giving the lunch break.
Opposition and independent MPs were present at the House when the Appropriations Bill was passed in parliament and they did not raise any voice against passing of the bill.
Finance Minister on June 11 placed a Taka 568,000 crore budget for the next fiscal for overcoming challenges and impacts of the COVID-19 global pandemic.
In the budget speech titled as ‘Economic Transition and Pathway to Progress,’ the minister set an average inflation target of 5.4 per cent for the 2020-21 fiscal.
Of the budget, Tk 3,78,000 crore will come from the National Revenue Board (NBR), non-NBR and non-tax revenue altogether, while Tk 3,30,000 crore of that amount will be from the NBR alone.
The budget deficit is estimated to be Tk 1,90,000 crore.
In financing the deficit, Tk 80,017 crore will come from external sources, including grants, and around Tk 1,09,983 crore from domestic sources.
Total allocation for operating and other expenditures is Tk 3,62,855 crore), and allocation for the annual development programme (ADP) is Tk 2,05,145 crore.
As per the ministry and division wise allocation, the Local Government Division received a proposed budgetary allocation of Taka 36,103 crore, followed by Taka 22,883 crore to the Health Services Division alongside Taka 6,362 crore to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Taka 29,442 crore to the Road Transport and Highways Division, Taka 24,853 crore to the Power Division, Taka 15,442 crore to the Ministry of Agriculture, Taka 33,118 crore to Secondary and Higher Education Division, Taka 24,937 crore to the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education, Taka 34,842 crore to the Ministry of Defense.
In order to fulfill the emergency requirements, Taka 10,000 crore lump sum amount has been allocated to fight against COVID-19.
The government has allocated Taka 95,574 crore for the social safety net programmes, which is 16.83 percent of total budget and 3.01 percent of GDP in FY 2020-21. In the last year’s revised budget, the allocation was Taka 81,865 crore.
Earlier on Monday, the Jatiya Sangsad passed the Finance Bill 2020 with some minor changes.
BDST: 1733 HRS, JUN 30, 2020
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