JS passes Tk 6,03,681cr budget for FY22

The Jatiya Sangsad today passed a Taka 6,03,681 crore national budget for fiscal year (2021-2022) that aims to attain a 7.2 percent GDP growth target putting priority to the lives and livelihood of the country’s people in tandem with development amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The national budget for the next fiscal year titled "Bangladesh towards a resilient future protecting lives and livelihoods" was passed today, which was also the last day of the outgoing fiscal year (FY21).

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal moved the Appropriation Bill, 2021 seeking a budgetary allocation of Taka 792,912.95 crore which was passed by voice vote.

Earlier on Yesterday, the Jatiya Sangsad passed the Finance Bill, 2021 with some changes.

Following the proposal mooted in the House by the Finance Ministry 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.

Earlier, the Parliament rejected by voice vote a total of only 625 cut-motions that stood in the name of opposition members on 59 demands for grants for different ministries.

A total of twelve MPs from Jatiya Party and BNP submitted their cut-motions on the budget.

They are Kazi Firoze Rashid, Rustam Ali Farazi, Mujibul Huq, Fakhrul Imam, Pir Fazlur Rahman, Shamim Haider Patwari, Begum Rawshan Ara Mannan, Harun Ur Rashid, Mosharrof Hossain, Liaquat Hossain Khoka, Mokabbir Kan, and Rumeen Farhana.

They were, however,  allowed to participate in the discussion on Law Ministry, Secondary and Higher Education Division and and Health Services Division.

Later, Speaker Dr 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 MPs were present at the House when the Appropriations Bill was passed in Parliament and they did not raise any voice against passing of the bill.

Earlier on June 3, Kamal while placing his 192-page budget speech, under the title “Bangladesh Towards a Resilient Future Protecting Lives And Livelihoods” highlighted various steps of the government to mitigate the shocks from the COVID-19 and the way forward to a sustainable economic recovery.

The total budget size of Taka 6,03,681 crore for FY22 is 17.5 percent of GDP.  Total allocation  for  operating  and  other expenditures  has  been  set  at  Taka 3,78,357 crore, while the allocation for the ADP is Taka 2,25,324 crore.

The overall budget deficit  for  FY 22  will  be  Taka  2,14,681 crore, which is 6.2 percent of GDP while the budget deficit in the last fiscal year was 6.1 percent.

Out of  the  total  deficit,  Taka 1,01,228 crore  will  be  financed  from  external  sources,  while Taka  1,13,453 crore from  domestic  sources  of  which Taka  76,452  crore  will  come  from  the banking system  and  Taka  37,001 crore  from  savings certificates  and  other non-bank sources.

The growth rate for FY22 has been fixed at 7.2 percent remaining consistent with the government’s long-term plan and taking the post COVID-19  recovery  situation  into  account. The inflation rate during this period is expected to remain within 5.3 percent.

With having utmost  priority  to  the  programmes  and  steps  taken  by the government to address the COVID-19 pandemic, the government also allocated Taka 32,731  crore  for  the  Health  and  Family  Welfare sector  in  the  next fiscal year, which was Tk. 29,245 crore in FY21.

The government has set the target  for  total  revenue income  in  the  FY22  at  Taka 3,89,000  crore,  which  is  11.3  percent  of  GDP.  Out of  this,  Taka  3,30,000 crore  will  be  collected  through the  NBR  sources.  Tax revenue from  non-NBR  sources has  been  estimated  at  Taka  16,000  crore,  while  the  non-tax revenue is estimated to be Taka 43,000 crore.

The Allocation  for  the  social  infrastructure  sector  in  the budget  is  Taka  1,70,510  crore,  which is  28.25  percent  of total allocation,  in  which  allocation  for  human resources  sector  (education, health  and  other  related  sectors)  will  be  Taka  1,55,847  crore.

Allocation for  the  physical infrastructure  sector  is Taka  1,79,681  crore or 29.76 percent, in  which Taka 74,102 crore will go to overall  agriculture and  rural  development,  Taka  69,474  crore  to  overall  communications,  and Taka 27,484  crore  to power  and  energy.

A  total  of  Taka  1,45,150  crore  has been  allocated for  general  services,  which  is  24.04 percent  of  the  total allocation.  Taka  34,648 crore  is  allocated for  public-private  partnerships (PPP),   financial   assistance   to   different  industries,   subsidies,   equity investments  in state-owned,  commercial  and  financial  institutions,  which is 5.74  percent  of  the  total  allocation.

Besides, there are allocations of Taka 68,589  crore for  interest payment, which is 11.36 percent of the total allocation, Taka 5,103 crore for net  lending and  other expenses,  which  is  0.85  percent  of  the  total allocation.

Considering the impact of the pandemic, the government has made allocation of Taka 1,07,614 crore in the social safety net sector, which is 17.83 percent of the budget and 3.11 percent of the GDP.