Economists and businesses on Friday said that the scope for discussions and giving opinions by stakeholders on the national budget was limited and it appeared that the budget proposals were the reflection of the finance minister’s will.
At a seminar titled ‘National Budget and Economic Pathway’, they also expressed their doubt over whether the proposed national budget for the financial year 2022-23 could be implemented.
The seminar was organised by the Centre for Governance Studies at the Hotel Intercontinental in the capital Dhaka.
‘Members of parliament, who are the people’s representatives, often fail to have any role in making the budget. It appears that the budget proposals are the reflection of the will of finance minister as there is no scope for reactive discussion and giving opinions by the MPs,’ Dhaka University professor Rashed Al Mahmud Titumir said in his keynote paper in the seminar.
Public discussions on economic issues must be ensured for effective democracy in the country, he said.
Regarding price hike of essential commodities, Titumir said that inflation should not be considered as a number rather the issue was related with the livelihood of people.
He said many people became jobless due to the Covid pandemic and the people involved with formulating budget faced difficulties in giving proper allocation in social security due to an absence of updated statistics.
Abdul Mazid, a former chairman of the National Board of Revenue, said that there were various contradictions in the budget process and the fiscal measures were not being implemented fully.
He said that the scope for discussions on the national budget was limited and discussions on the supplementary budget was completely absent but it should not be such.
Nasreen Fatema Awal, founding president of the Women Entrepreneur Association of Bangladesh, said that there was no scope for the women entrepreneurs for joining the consultation process in making the budget.
She said that every year the government announced a big budget with a shortage of implementation capacity.
Nasreen demanded a special allocation for women empowerment and women entrepreneurship in the national budget.
Planning minister MA Mannan said that the proposed budget might have a lot of shortcomings, but it was just a draft.
With all the suggestions and criticisms, it would be discussed in the parliament and made a proper one, he said.
‘Road to governance is very a long process, but we have to understand what mass people want at the first place. Mass people are less interested about governance; all they want is living standards, which Awami League has ensured them with,’ the minister said.
‘If a non-representative government makes a budget, there is an absence of scope for discussions,’ BNP standing committee member Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury said.
He said that allocation should be increased for education, health and social safety net in the proposed budget.
Amir Khasru said that small and medium enterprises, the main strength of Bangladesh’s economy, did not get proper policy attention in the proposed budget.
‘Inequality is rising in the country as the government is patronising their own people for political interest,’ he added.
Anwar-ul Alam Chowdhury Parvez, president of the Bangladesh Chamber of Industries, said that the proposed budget lacked a framework on how the NBR would achieve the revenue collection target.
He emphasised the need for addressing inflation to increase employment.
Former Federation of Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Mir Nasir Hossain, former FBCCI director Abdul Haque, Centre for Governance Studies chairman Manjur A Chowdhury and CGS executive director Zillur Rahman, among others, spoke at the seminar.
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