Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal
JS passes Tk 13,987.27 cr supplementary budget
Parliament on Monday passed the supplementary budget of Tk 13,987.27 crore for the fiscal 2020-21 to meet the increased expenditures under 19 different ministries and divisions.Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal placed the supplementary budget in the House on June 3 along with the national budget.
Read: Poor, jobless people largely ignored in budget: BNPA total of Tk 568,000 crore was allocated in favour of 62 ministries and divisions in the budget of 2020-21 fiscal.In the supplementary budget, the expenditure for 19 ministries and divisions was increased by Tk 13,987.27 crore while the expenditures for 43 ministries and divisions was reduced by 42,481.87 crore.As a result, the budget allocations for these ministries and divisions were reduced by Tk 29,017 crore and the total allocation now stands at Tk 538,983 crore.On Monday, the Finance Minister moved the Supplementary Budget in the House following general discussions on it.Different ministries, divisions and institutions sought increased amount under 19 demands for grant. As many as 190 cut-motions were moved by 11 members.
Read:New budget proposals inadequate in tackling poverty, say rights groupsDiscussions, however, were held on two cut-motions – on financial institutions division and health services division.These cut motions were brought by Jatiya Party MPs Kazi Firoz Rashid, Mujibul Huq, Fakhrul Imam, Rowshan Ara Mannan, Shamim Haider Patwary, Liaquat Hossain Khoka, BNP MPs Md Harunur Rashid, Rumin Farhana, Md. Mosharof Hosen and Gonoforum MP Mukabbir Khan and Independent MP Md. Rezaul Karim Bablu.However, those cut-motions were rejected by voice votes.The Local government Division got the highest allocation of Tk 2890.45 crore while the Rural Development and Cooperatives Division the lowest Tk 1.40 crore.
Read: New budget underestimated impacts of COVID-19 pandemic, says SANEMThe Prime Minister’s Office got Tk 482.03 crore while the Cabinet Division Tk 9.70 crore, the Election Commission Secretariat Tk 79.09 crore, the Financial Institutions Division Tk 205.59 crore, the Planning Division Tk 242.75 crore, IMED Tk 6.74 crore, the Statistics and information Management Division Tk 142.84 crore, the Primary and Mass Education Ministry Tk 1005.15 crore, the Heath Services Division Tk 2850.48 crore, the Housing and Public Works Ministry Tk 489.37 crore, the Religious Affairs Ministry Tk 384.51 crore, the Industries Ministry Tk 565.37 crore, the Textile and Jute Ministry Tk 1905.68 crore, the Fisheries and Livestock Ministry Tk 332.78 crore, the Water Resources Ministry Tk 1039.99 crore, the Transportation and Highways Division Tk 676.62 crore and the Shipping Ministry Tk 676.66 crore.
Finance Minister writes a big cheque for health sector
As the Coronavirus pandemic has taken its toll on human health, Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal on Thursday proposed an allocation of Tk32,731 crore for health services and health education sector, up Tk 3,484 crore than last year’s allocation.
The minister came up with the proposal while unveiling the national budget for the 2021-22 fiscal year in Parliament.
With the new allocation, the health sector 5.42 percent of the total budget and 12 percent increase in absolute terms.
Though the government has given priority to the protection of lives and livelihoods, the total allocation is still nearly 1 percent of the GDP. But the World Health Organization recommends it should be at least 5 percent.
Health experts, however, said the proper implementation of the allocation is a big challenge for the health sector as the Health Ministry has long been manifesting poor performance in utilising the budgetary allocation.
They said the health ministry could not spend around Tk 9,000 crore of the development budgets of this sector in the outgoing fiscal year.
Also read: New budget unveiled with focus on protecting lives and livelihoods
The experts warned that without well-thought-out plans, alongside their proper implementation and effective management, the intended goals cannot be achieved through the allocation earmarked for the health sector.
They also said the Health Ministry should now first identify the areas of expenditure and the demands of the health sector based on priorities, for an upgrade to the country’s healthcare services.
In his budget speech, the minister said, “Giving an utmost priority to the programmes and steps taken by the government to address the Covid-19 pandemic, I propose to allocate Tk. 32,731 crore for the Health and Family Welfare sector in the next fiscal year, which was Tk. 29,245 crore in FY2020-2021.”
Like last year, he said, they have made a slight deviation from the traditional budget for the sake of effectively combatting the Covid-19 pandemic and resolutely overcoming its economic impact by giving priority to protection of lives and livelihoods.
Bangladesh now “wonder of wonders”: Minister
Presenting his second budget amid the Covid-19 pandemic, Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has said Bangladesh’s extraordinary pace of development has stunned the world today.
“Bangladesh is now the wonder of wonders,” he said in his budget speech on Thursday adding that the world leaders, who attended the national programme of Bangabandhu’s birth centenary and Golden Jubilee of Independence noted the country’s progress with high admiration.
Read:Finance Minister starts unveiling national budget
In his budget speech’s section titled “Bangladesh Towards a Resilient Future Protecting Lives and Livelihoods”, the finance minister, quoting the Center for Economic and Business Research (CEBR), said Bangladesh will become the 25th largest economy in the world by 2035 if the current trend in its economic growth continues.
Once one of the 10 poorest countries in the world, Bangladesh is now the 41st largest economy in the world.
Read:Cabinet approves proposed budget for new fiscal
The global leaders, the minister said, committed and hoped to become partners in Bangladesh's future progress.
In the last 50 years, especially during the three and a half years of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's rule and the 17 years of visionary leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the size of Bangladesh's economy has increased 271 times and our per capita national income has increased 300 times, said the finance minister, adding that Bangladesh has now earned a respectable position in the world.
Read: New national budget to be presented Thursday, aims at regaining fast economic growth
“In the centenary of his birth, we, as a nation, are moving forward, following his footprint and the roadmap he laid down for our economic emancipation,” he said.
Finance Minister starts unveiling national budget
Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has started presenting the national budget in Parliament for the 2021-22 fiscal year with a focus on health, agriculture, social safety nets and job creation. The finance minister began rolling out the Tk 603,681 crore budget around 3:05 pm outlining measures to save lives and create more jobs so that people can cope with the fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Read:Cabinet approves proposed budget for new fiscal The budget also has a big focus on disaster management and food security apart from addressing the Covid-related issues. This is the third time Mustafa Kamal presenting the budget themed as "Priority on lives and livelihoods, tomorrow's Bangladesh.", while it is the 13th budget in a row for the Awami League government and the 50th for the country. Earlier, President Abdul Hamid authenticated the national budget and the revised budget for placing before the Jatiya Sangsad.
Read: New national budget to be presented Thursday, aims at regaining fast economic growth The total revenue collection has fixed at Tk 389,000 crore, where National Board of Revenue (NBR) will collect Tk 330,000 crore while Tk 16,000 crore will come from non-NBR sector and Tk 43,000 will come from non-tax segment. Besides, Tk 3490 crore will come from foreign aid, grants and loans.
Read:President to attend parliament to witness budget presentation
Cabinet approves proposed budget for new fiscal
The Cabinet at a special meeting on Thursday approved the proposed 50th national budget for the fiscal year 2021-22, seeking to revive the pandemic-hit economy.
Read: New national budget to be presented Thursday, aims at regaining fast economic growth
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina presided over the meeting held at the cabinet room of the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban.
Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal, other ministers and state ministers concerned attended the meeting.
Read: President to attend parliament to witness budget presentation
The Finance Minister is set to unveil the proposed national budget for the 2021-22 fiscal year. He is scheduled to start unfolding his second budget at the Jatiya Sangsad at 3:00 pm.
The budget will be the third one of the present Awami League government formed through the December-30 general election held in 2018.Read:Parliament’s budget session set to begin Wednesday
Govt. set to expand social safety allowances in upcoming budget
The government is set to expand the social safety net in the upcoming budget as the Covid-19 has pushed at least 2.5 crore people below the poverty line.
In the forefront of the beneficiaries are the elderly persons, women left by husbands and widows, said sources at the finance ministry and national board of revenue.
Read: Prioritise saving lives, tackling inequality in the budget: CPD
Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal will place the national budget for 2021-22 in Parliament on June 3.
The budget will set aside Tk. 3420 crore for elderly persons, up from Tk2940 crore in the current fiscal. Some 97 lakh persons will get the benefits, an increase of eight lakh from the running year. Similarly, allowances are being increased for widows and women left by husbands.
Read: Parliament gets Tk 336.14cr budget for next fiscal year
Their number will be 24.75 The allocation for this purpose would be Tk 1237.50 crore from the existing Tk 1230 crore.
Some 18 lakh insolvent disabled, 7.70 lakh poor pregnant women and 2.75 lakh poor lactating mothers will be put under the social safety net programme, said the sources.Transport workers who are affected by the pandemic will be included in the social safety net programme.
An amount of Tk 2500 crore has been earmarked for the affected transport workers.
Read: Sources: Agriculture to get increased subsidy in the upcoming national budget
Social welfare ministry sources said other social safety net programmes would be expanded and the ministry is working on it.
In the new budget the number of transgender, bede and underprivileged beneficiaries will be increased to 95,000.Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has already provided financial assistance to some 36 lakh families who have been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic and recent natural disasters.
Read: Prioritise health, education, agriculture in next budget: BNP
The families include 35 lakh low-income ones engaged in different occupations including affected transport workers. The remaining one lakh are farmers affected by recent natural disasters.Each of the 35 lakh families got Tk 2,500, while Tk 5,000 was given to each of one lakh farmer families.
The amount of allowance for the valiant freedom fighters of the country will also be increased.
The prime minister has already announced the allowance will be raised from Tk 12,000 to Tk 20,000 for the general category.
Read Freedom Fighters' allowance to rise by two-thirds from next fiscal
Cabinet body okays proposal to procure 1.5 crore Chinese Sinopharm vaccine
The Cabinet Committee on Public Purchase on Thursday gave final approval to a proposal of the Health and Family Welfare Ministry to procure 1.5 crore Chinese Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine.
As per the approval, the Health Services Division of the Health and Family Welfare Ministry will procure a total of 15 million (1.5 crore) vaccine in the next three months—June, July and August.
Read: Process to procure vaccine from China at final stage: FM
Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal presided over the Cabinet body meeting.
“Each month 5 million doses of vaccine will be imported from the Chinese firm”, Dr Shahida Aktar, additional secretary to the Cabinet Division, told reporters while briefing on the outcomes of the cabinet body meeting.
Earlier on May 19, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) gave its “in principle approval” to a proposal of the Health Services Division to import Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine.
Read: Bangladesh begins administering 1st dose of Chinese vaccine
The CCEA also approved “in principle” procurement of Covid-19 vaccine from Russia in a meeting on April 28.
But no specific proposal regarding the quantity and the cost of the Russian Sputnik-V is yet to come to the Cabinet Committee on Public Purchase, which is responsible for giving the final approval.
Economists urge government to present pro-poor budget
Amid the rising number of new poor in Bangladesh due to the COVID-19 pandemic, economists suggest the government should go for a pro-poor national budget that safeguards both their lives and livelihoods.
In line with that suggestion, they are urging the government to prioritize the social safety net, employment, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as well as the health, education and agriculture sectors in the upcoming budget.
They said the poor [particularly day labourers, hawkers, beggars, rootless people, security guards, maids, transport and restaurant workers and people affected by natural disasters] across Bangladesh have been facing emerging vulnerabilities escalating debt and declining savings one year into the pandemic.
Read Policy implementation needed for poverty eradication: Speakers
According to the report of Power and Participation Research Centre (PPRC) and BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD), the Covid-19 pandemic has caused 24.5 million new people to fall below the line of poverty between June 2020 and March 2021, and the debt burden has doubled for people living in both urban and rural areas. The majority of the new poor are to be found in the urban areas.
“There was a 4% rise in extreme poverty within the study sample. Despite some recovery, national estimate of ‘new poor’ in March 2021 stood at 14.7% which translates into a population of 24.5 million,” the survey titled One Year into the COVID-19 Crisis by PPRC and BIGD showed.
The data also showed that households are faced with a 2nd wave crisis with significantly depleted coping capacity - savings depleted by 24% and 11% in rural and urban respectively. Meanwhile the debt burden doubled during the period for most groups. It is worth remembering that income drop for the poor and vulnerable was above 70% immediately after the 1st wave in March- April, 2020 according to the report.
Also read: The shadow of coronavirus on Bangladesh’s poor
“One year from the crisis, 50% of the ‘new poor’ remain stuck in poverty. However, 8% of pre-COVID employed were still unemployed in March 2021. Around half were in their pre-covid occupation but 41% had to move to another occupation. The unemployment rate remains high for skilled labour, salaried jobs and housemaids,” it also said.
The data mentioned that 47% of the early migrants were non-poor before the pandemic and 57% of early migrants moved to other cities. On the other hand, one-third (61%) of late migrants were poor before the pandemic and majority (60%) of late migrants moved to villages.
There was a 98% rise in non-food expenditure burden between June 2020 and March 2021. Besides, significant rises in all items such as Rent – 46%, Health –81%, Transportation – 104% and Utility – 51%, were recorded in the recent survey.
Also read: Beggars passing days in increased hardship during lockdown
It also showed that three drivers of vulnerability during covid crisis- Uncertainty of preferred employment, Non-food expenditure burdens – 98% rise in urban areas and near-absence of social protection support – help from government – 9% to 2%, NGOs - 3% to 1%, employer – 1% to 0%, and local community – 5% to 2% - all declined in the period.
Executive Chairman of PPRC Dr Hossain Zillur Rahman said although social protection is playing only a token role in Covid response it is a critical priority.
“Parallel to existing safety nets, there is urgent need for specific new and significant programs for urban poor and ‘new poor’ with effective targeting and leveraging technology,” he further added smart lockdown to avoid such a new income shock is both a health and an economic priority.”
Read COVID-19 shatters Bangladesh's dream of eradicating poverty
As a final policy message, the economist emphasized that to tackle women and ‘new poor’ caught in an emerging poverty trap due to vulnerability of the ‘meso-economy’ including CSME sector, a targeted and ‘big-push’ is necessary for which the study calls for an urgent national CSME recovery action plan.
Talking to UNB, the research director of Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) Dr Khandaker Golam Moazzem appreciated the government taking different programmes to assist the poor during the pandemic. Though, he criticized the distribution level.
"Someone takes assistance from the stimulus packages several times on the other hand someone is deprived of it. So, transparency should be ensured in the distribution level so that new poor get funds from the packages properly,” he added.
Read Nations must work together to reverse setbacks to poverty ...
The economist said there are a good number of Non Governmental organizations (NGOs) in the country who work with slum dwellers and rootless people. The government can take support from them to make an accurate list to provide funds in the right way. We need accountability to address it. So the government should work with them.
“The impact of the coronavirus won’t depart from the country in the next two years. Poor people should be provided enough assistance two times in a single year. So social safety net programmes should be prioritised more in the upcoming budget,” Moazzem said.
Moazzem added that the national budget for FY2021-22 is being prepared in the backdrop of a number of disquieting developments in the economy- weak performance of FY2020-21 budget implementation, the persistence of adverse impacts of the first wave of COVID-19, continuing stagnation in private investment, the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, and failure of the external sector to pick-up. So, the upcoming budget will need to address these as also the medium-term fiscal reform issues with a view to making a recovery sustainable.
Read Poor people to get highest priority in next budget: Finance Minister.
Foodgrain import: Government to cut bidding time
The government will cut the bidding time for foodgrain import from the international market.
Export-import tax above Tk2 lakh can be paid online from July 1
The National Board of Revenue (NBR) will receive the tax of export-import oriented trade through e-payment system from July 1 this year if the amount is above Tk 2 lakh.