The Cabinet has approved the Tk 2.95 trillion national budget for 2014-15.
Finance Minister A M A Muhith placed the budget for the cabinet’s approval on Thursday.
The cabinet cleared it in a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Muhith proposes to fund two-thirds of this jumbo budget, the biggest in Bangladesh’s history, with sharp increase in revenues.
He has fixed a revenue target of Tk 2.08 trillion, leaving a Tk 862.48 billion deficit.
The finance minister will soon place the budget in the parliament.
He is aiming at a 7.1 percent GDP growth and intends to keep inflation below 6.2 percent.
“Stability is back in politics. Shutdowns and blockades appear to be over for good. Our entrepreneurs have regained confidence,” Muhith has told bdnews24.com.
Industrial entrepreneurs are also viewing the drop in oil prices in the international market as the best opportunity for investment.
But they are frustrated by the failure to get gas and power connections.
The price of oil has gone down by half in the international market in past one year. Food prices are low and global inflation is also under control.
Moreover, Bangladesh’s foreign exchange reserves have touched a record $24 billion as expatriates are remitting more and more. Exports are also on the rise.–bdnews24.com
