Tk8 lakh crore budget proposal for FY25 fiscal gets PM's nod

The size of the next national budget of Bangladesh, for the fiscal year starting July 2024, will be Tk8 lakh crore, and the draft is set to be tabled at the parliament on 6 June.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina approved the budget plan when it was placed before her.

The budget plan is scheduled to be presented in the parliament on 6 June, sources of the Finance Ministry confirmed UNB on Tuesday (May 14).

In a personal opinion, the prime minister said she was for discouraging the import of luxury goods in the next budget. Like the current fiscal year, the prime minister said that inflation control will be the top priority of the next budget.

The premier wanted to see whether the election manifesto is reflected in the first budget of the current term of the ruling Awami League. She expressed satisfaction that the allocation of the budget proposed by the Ministry of Finance reflects the messages in the election manifesto.

The budget summary of FY2024-25 was presented in a meeting held at Ganobhaban on Monday with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.

According to the meeting sources, the prime minister has emphasised price control, increase in foreign direct investment (FDI), proper control of imports, careful undertaking of development projects, increase in revenue collection, increase in the remittance flow from expatriates through legitimate channels, increase in the number of beneficiaries of social security programmes, etc.

Planning Minister Major General (Retd) Abdus Salam, State Minister for Finance Waseqa Ayesha Khan, State Minister for Planning Md. Shahiduzzaman, Bangladesh Bank Governor Abdur Rauf Talukdar, National Board of Revenue (NBR) Chairman Abu Hena Md. Rahmatul Muneem, Finance Secretary Dr Md Khairuzzaman Mozumder, and other senior officials of the finance division, ministries of finance and planning were present in the meeting.

Finance Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali was connected to the meeting through an online facility.