Opposition Chief Whip Tajul Islam Choudhury yesterday said there is no surprise in the proposed national budget for 2016-17 fiscal year, reports UNB. “In overall consideration, there’s no surprise in this budget. He (Finance Minister) placed a big budget, but we see no way (guideline) to implement it,” he said joining the general discussion on the proposed budget in Parliament. Noting that budget deficit is Tk 92,337 crore and without aid it is Tk 97,853 crore, which is very much high, he said questions have arisen regarding the budget financing.
“The government will have to face many challenges to meet the deficit with limited resources,” the Jatiya Party MP said. The Finance Minister in his budget speech did not mention any clear guideline how the big budget can be implemented, he said.
Tajul demanded that allocation for the health sector be increased and more schools be brought under the monthly payment order (MPO). Criticising the Finance Minister, he said there is no good news in the proposed budget about investment and no guideline for stopping anomalies in the banking sector and revamping the share market. He, however, said higher allocation for the education sector and measures to discourage smoking are the positive sides of the proposed budget.
Participating in the discussion, ruling Awami League MP Dipu Moni (Chandpur-3) also demanded the government bring all schools under the MPO saying that only Tk 1,000 crore will be needed annually to meet the expenses against the schools.
Ruling party whip Shahiduzzaman Sarker (Naogaon-2) suggested the government to make development expenditures higher than non-development expenditure for the expected development of the country. He said the allocation for development expenditures is only Tk 1,10,700 crore, which is much lower than the non-development expenditures in the proposed budget of Tk 3,40,000 crore. Saying that there are only 12 lakh taxpayers in the country, the whip suggested widening the tax net not enhancing burden on the existing taxpayers. AL MP Sagufta Yasmin (Munshiganj-2) said the government should concentrate on investment for the rapid progress of the country. Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury (Dinajpur-2), AKM Rahmatullah (Dhaka-11), Abu Saleh Mohammad Sayeed (Lalmonirhat-3), Yussuf Abdullah Harun (Comilla-3), Mohibur Rahman Manik (Sunamganj-5), Nurjahan Begum (Reserved seat-42), Merina Rahaman (Reserved seat-47), Abdul Matin (Maulvibazar-2), Sk Hafizur Rahman (Narail-2) and Khandoker Abdul Baten (Tangail-6), among others, joined the discussion on the budget.