Budget to be placed considering every citizen of Bangladesh: Khosru

Finance and Planning Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury said on Wednesday that the incumbent government would place the national budget for FY27 in the Jatiya Sangsad on 11 June, considering every citizen of Bangladesh.

“Insha Allah, this budget to be placed on 11 June will be good. This budget is being prepared and will be placed, considering every citizen of Bangladesh…We are passing through a bad time, we have inherited a fragile economy, despite this, we are trying our best. This budget will be given keeping in mind every citizen of the country,” he said.

The minister was talking to reporters at the Bangladesh Secretariat in Dhaka.

He noted that the country’s economic condition is very fragile coupled with a huge inherited debt burden, rising poverty rate, and declining investment. “Despite this, we have assumed responsibility and we are trying to deliver a budget considering each and every citizen of the country,”

Khosru said they are trying to ensure the participation of all citizens in the economy so that the desired benefits reach all concerned. 

“Hopefully, this will be a good beginning from inheriting a fragile economy…although it will take some time, the beginning will be good as we will be gradually moving towards betterment.” 

The finance minister asserted that the country’s economy will be investment-based coming out of the previous trend of printing money, taking hefty loans from banks and thus leaving the country in a negative condition.

He said that the government has been working on restoring sound public financial management to prevent the country from falling into a debt trap in the coming days as a huge amount is now being spent to repay the interests of loans in the national budget.

“We are trying our best to reduce our dependency on loans and thus enhance our reliance on investment. We will have to reduce our operating costs gradually and thus raise investments.” 

Khosru said that the current government after assuming responsibility has been working tirelessly to correct the distortions that prevailed in the economy and thus restoring proper macroeconomic stability in order to ensure discipline in the financial sector.

“These efforts in the true sense will protect the interests of the people of Bangladesh, and thus we will be able to materialise our dream of becoming a trillion-dollar economy,” he added.