NCP unveils Tk8.52 lakh crore shadow budget

The National Citizen Party (NCP) on Friday unveiled its shadow budget for the 2026-27 fiscal year, proposing a Tk 8.52 lakh crore spending plan centred on economic reforms, employment generation and investment-driven sustainable growth.

Presented under the theme, “Bangladesh 2.0: Sustainable Growth through Reforms, Employment and Investment,” the proposed budget outlines 71 specific and implementable policy measures across 12 major sectors, ranging from revenue and taxation to education, healthcare, agriculture and governance.

The proposed budget amounts to Tk 852,157 crore, an increase of Tk 62,157 crore over the current fiscal year’s budget.

NCP said it aims to keep the budget deficit within 3.09 percent of GDP while reducing inflation from the current 9.2 percent to 8 percent in FY2026-27 and further down to 6 percent in the following fiscal year.

The proposals were presented at an event organised by the party’s Shadow Budget Committee on the second floor of Rupayan Tower at 3:30pm on Friday.

Among those present were NCP Chief Organiser (Southern Region) and Member of Parliament Hasnat Abdullah, Shadow Budget Committee Chief and MP Dr Atiq Mujahid, Deputy Chief Abdullah Al Faisal, NCP Joint Member Secretary Alauddin Mohammad and National Workers’ Force Joint Convener Sajib Waheed.

Hasnat Abdullah delivered the opening remarks before Dr Atiq Mujahid and Abdullah Al Faisal presented the budget proposals.

The recommendations cover 12 broad sectors, including revenue and macroeconomics, tax structure and expansion of the tax net, tax justice and reform, education and employment, health and social protection, agriculture and food security, clean energy and environment, women, youth and inclusion, public service and governance reforms, banking and capital markets, defence and national security, and transparency and accountability.

Under the revenue and macroeconomic framework, NCP proposed maintaining the budget deficit at 3.09 percent of GDP, increasing overall expenditure by 7.87 percent, projecting GDP at Tk 68.7 trillion based on 13 percent nominal growth, and boosting foreign exchange reserves to $32 billion.

The party also proposed increasing the revenue-to-GDP ratio to 9.32 percent, reducing interest payments from 15.4 percent to 13 percent of total expenditure, and lowering government borrowing from the banking sector to Tk 14,000 crore.

To strengthen revenue collection, the party proposed generating an additional Tk 76,000 crore through six revenue measures. Among the notable recommendations are mandatory income tax return submissions for electricity consumers using more than 75 units per month, integration of TIN, NID and mobile financial service databases, establishment of a National Digital Asset Registry, digitisation of ports to curb corruption, withdrawal of unnecessary tax exemptions and listing state-owned enterprises on the stock market.

In the area of tax reform, the NCP proposed raising the general tax-free income threshold to Tk 450,000. The threshold would be increased to Tk 500,000 for women, senior citizens and persons with disabilities.

The party also proposed recognising zakat payments as income tax rebates, introducing a progressive inheritance tax, reducing corporate tax rates to 25 percent, launching a Taiwan-inspired VAT lottery scheme, guaranteeing VAT exemptions on eight essential commodities for five years, cutting mobile internet taxes by 30 percent, and offering tax incentives for SMEs and startups.

Education and employment feature prominently in the proposed budget. NCP suggested allocating Tk 124,425 crore to the education sector, implementing school feeding programmes in all government primary schools, creating a Tk 5,000 crore Teacher Quality Fund, nationalising private schools, increasing technical education enrolment to 30 percent, establishing a Tk 500 crore government-backed startup guarantee fund, creating 10 million jobs over five years, and removing discriminatory conditions faced by young entrepreneurs.

In the health and social protection sector, the party proposed increasing the health budget by 25 percent and introducing a national health insurance programme. It also recommended establishing a special fund to subsidise up to 70 percent of the costs of chemotherapy, radiotherapy, dialysis, angioplasty and bypass surgery for low-income families.

Other healthcare initiatives include the construction of two international-standard super-speciality hospitals, deployment of 500 GPS-tracked ambulances with trained paramedics nationwide, modernisation of TCB smart cards, a nearly threefold increase in disability allowances, special state allowances for those recognised as heroes of the July uprising, and consolidation of more than 140 fragmented social safety net programmes.

In agriculture and food security, NCP proposed establishing modern crop marketing centres, eliminating middlemen, increasing farmers’ income, providing fertiliser subsidies directly to farmers’ bank accounts, maintaining food security programmes and launching a Tk 500 crore blue economy initiative.

The clean energy and environment sector received significant attention. The party proposed a Solar Energy Sovereignty Act that would ensure zero taxes on solar panels, inverters, batteries, pumps and solar street lights for five years.

It also recommended a Tk 6,000 crore renewable energy programme, tax incentives for energy-efficient appliances, environmentally friendly electric vehicle taxation, conversion of two million e-rickshaws to lithium batteries, revival of inactive solar street lights and a 37.6 percent increase in WASH-related spending.

For women, youth and inclusion, the NCP proposed introducing paid maternity and paternity leave, creating a Tk 5,000 crore women entrepreneurs’ fund offering collateral-free loans of up to Tk 2.5 million, removing all VAT and supplementary duties on sanitary napkins, launching “Avenge Bonds,” and bringing imams, muezzins, khadems and priests under Grade 16 of the national pay scale in recognition of their social contributions.

The shadow budget is part of NCP’s broader effort to present an alternative economic vision, combining fiscal discipline with structural reforms, expanded social protection and private-sector-led growth ahead of the next fiscal year.