JS passes Tk 7,61,785cr budget for FY ’24

Staff Reporter :
The Jatiya Sangsad (JS) on Monday passed Tk 7,61,785 crore national budget for the 2023-24 fiscal, aiming at 7.5 per cent GDP growth rate with an expectation of keeping annual inflation at around 6.0 per cent.

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal placed the Appropriations Bill, 2023 seeking a budgetary allocation of Tk 11,10,840.76 crore, which was passed by voice vote.
Earlier on Sunday, the House passed the Finance Bill 2023 bringing some important changes including scarping of proposed annual tax payment of Tk 2,000 for every TIN holders.
Following the proposal mooted in the House by the finance minister 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 grant.
In the budget, the total revenue has estimated at Tk 5 lakh crore. Out of this, Tk 4,30,000 crore will be collected by the National Board of Revenue (NBR) and Tk 70,000 crore will come from other sources.
The allocation for operating and other sectors is Tk 4,36,247 crore while Tk 2, 63,000 crore to the Annual Development Programme (ADP).
The overall deficit in the proposed budget will stand at Tk 2,61,785 crore, which is 5.2 per cent of GDP. The deficit was 5.1 per cent in the current fiscal year.
Out of the total deficit, Tk 1,55,395 crore will be financed from domestic sources and Tk 1,02,490 crore from external sources and Tk 24,700 crore has been kept for repaying foreign debts.
The GDP size is estimated at Tk 50,06,782 crore, according to the budget speech of the finance minister.
The allocation for social infrastructure development has kept Tk 191,908 crore, which is 25.2 per cent of the GDP. Out of this, Tk 175,774 crore has allocated for human resource development (education, health and others) sector.

Besides, Tk 224,108 crore or 29.04 per cent has kept for the infrastructure development sector. Of which Tk 9,341 crore for the overall agriculture and rural development sector, Tk 85,191 crore for the communication infrastructure sector and Tk 34,819 crore for the power and energy sector.
Earlier, the parliament rejected by voice vote a total of only 503 cut-motions that stood in the name of opposition members on 59 demands for grants for different ministries.
A total of eight Jatiya Party MPs, one each MP from Gonoforum and independent submitted their cut-motions on the budget.

As per the understanding with the Speaker, the MPs were, however, allowed to participate in the discussion on Commerce Ministry and Health Services Division.
Later, Speaker 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 lawmakers were present at the House when the Appropriation Bill was passed at the Parliament and they did not raise any voice against passing of the bill.
Kamal on June 1 placed a Tk 7,61,785 crore budget, which is 15.2 percent of the GDP, for the next fiscal 2023-24 with a philosophy of building a hunger and poverty-free, knowledge-based and developed ‘Smart Bangladesh’ by 2041.