Jatiya Party Chairman GM Quader has termed the budget for FY-2022-2023 as ambitious given instability in the world market driven by the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war, reports UNB.
“Instability has been prevailing in the world market due to the Corona pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war. That’s why the prices of various commodities and fuel oil are increasing. In such a reality, the huge budget has to be called an ambitious one,” he said.
Talking to reporters at Jatiya Sangsad on Thursday, he said a deficit of Tk 2.5 lakh crore has been shown in the budget which is above 5 per cent of the GDP.
Stating that 36 per cent of the budget revenue is dependent on domestic loans, he said it will hamper local investment by the businesses. “As a result, the path to create new employment may be shrunk.
Quader, also the deputy opposition leader in parliament, feared that the increase in the amount of foreign debt may lead to a catastrophe like Sri Lanka’s as the government has targeted 14.2 per cent foreign loans to implement the budget.
Mentioning that the Bangladesh Bank has devalued taka against the US dollar, he said the lives of middle and lower-class people of the country may become miserable due to inflation.
GM Quader said there should have been an initiative to buy essential commodities, including rice, pulses, and oil from the world market and sell them to the poor at low prices with subsidies.
Besides, he said the tax collection target has been set at Tk42,000 crore more than last year. “The adverse impacts of extra tax collection will only increase the suffering of the common man.”
