National Budget
Russia-Ukraine war creates uncertainties: Kamal on upcoming national budget
Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has said he faces the pressure of external vulnerabilities in the economy in preparing the national budget for FY2022-23.
"...But only pressure is the uncertainties and external vulnerabilities due to the war (Russia-Ukraine)”, he told reporters while briefing about the outcomes of the Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase (CCGP) on Wednesday.
Also read: Govt mulls amnesty to bring back laundered money: Finance Minister
The National Budget for FY2022-23 is slated to be placed in Parliament on June 9.
He said that after the Covid-19 pandemic when the economy was trying to recover from the shock, the Russia-Ukraine war started which created huge vulnerabilities and uncertainties globally.
“Every country in the world has to face the challenges of the vulnerabilities and they are under pressure”, he said adding that these uncertainties and vulnerabilities will create opportunities as well.
“We don’t war anymore. We want the war to stop immediately”, he said.
Kamal said his main focus in the budget will be recovering the economy from the uncertainties and vulnerabilities. “We’ll try to bring dynamism in the economy”.
Responding to a question on the CPD’s observation that the country’s financial sector is led by a weak leadership, the finance minister said Bangladesh has been the best country in the world in economic management.
Also read: Finance minister directs regulators to boost investment in stock market
“The way we run the economy in a crisis situation, the administrative efficiency we showed, it’s best compared with the other countries”, he claimed.
He, however, refused to disclose the main thrusts of the national budget. “Just wait…You will see when the budget is placed in Parliament”.
He hinted that strengthening the social safety-net programme will get a special focus in the upcoming budget.
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.
Businessmen given highest benefits with objective to create jobs: Finance Minister
Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has defended his tweaks to the law and budget items to provide businessmen the highest number of benefits in the proposed national budget for the fiscal year 2021-22, under an objective that they would reinvest in business, which would ultimately create more jobs.
He made the remarks while addressing a virtual post-budget press conference on Friday against the background of the Tk. 6,03,681 crore (Tk 6.03 trillion) budget placed Thursday in parliament, equivalent to 17.5 percent of GDP, for which in turn he set a target to achieve 7.2 percent growth in the 2021-22 fiscal.
In the budget, the overall deficit was outlined at Tk 2,14,681 crore, which is 6.2 percent of GDP. Kamal's plan is to meet it by mobilizing Tk. 101,228 crore from external sources, and Tk 113,453 crore from domestic sources. Two-thirds of the domestic financing, Tk. 76,452 crore, Kamal expects from the banking system, and the rest (Tk 37,001 crore) from savings certificates and other non-bank sources.
The revenue income was estimated to be at Tk 389,000 crore, which is 11.3 percent of GDP.
The Finance Minister said he placed the budget to keep the country’s economy on the trajectory of development and growth offsetting the fallout of Covid-19 as in the past.
Also read: New budget unveiled with focus on protecting lives and livelihoods
“This budget will create scopes for attracting new investment, generate new employment, protect the lives and livelihood of the marginalised people, and development. It is our firm belief,” he said.
He said more than 6.1 percent GDP growth is being attained in the outgoing fiscal year. "We’ll be able to attain 7.2 percent-plus GDP growth in the next fiscal year facing the corona situation,” he said.
Responding to a question as to what specific measures were taken to create employment since many people lost their jobs due to the pandemic, the Finance Minister said the top-most priority was given to the promotion of business in the national budget.
“The private sector has to be in the driving seat to generate employment. Government alone cannot create employment,” he said.
Agriculture Minister Abdur Razzak, Planning Minister Abdul Mannan, Bangladesh Bank Governor Fazle Kabir and Senior Secretary at Finance Division Abdur Rouf Talukder and National Board of Revenue (NBR) Chairman Abu Hena Md Rahmatul Muneem also spoke on the occasion.
Mustafa Kamal said many fiscal measures were taken in the budget to ease the business-related laws in order to promote business.
In many cases, taxes were lowered as the government’s main objective is not revenue collection, he said defending his position.
Also read: Allocation in budget for agriculture 'enough' for Dr Razzaque
He said works are going to determine the effect on the poorer sections by the Covid-19. “We have not received the complete data on the issue. Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) and Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) have separately been working on the issue.”
The government will take measures after receiving the findings of their studies, he said.
About a question on black money whitening, the Finance Minister said it is "not yet decided" whether the scope will continue or not. That’s why the issue did not come in the budget speech.
He admitted there is a strong argument that the provision goes against equitable justice, although many people are in favor of its continuation. “But things will be clear within a month.”
In some of his strongest comments, he grew adamant to make the point that black money and undeclared money are not the same, as the latter is created due to flaws in the country’s economic system.
Defending the target of achieving 7.2 percent GDP growth, he said the economy has been performing better with huge growth of 39.4 percent in remittances and 13.69 percent growth in export business.
“So, like previous years, it will not be impossible to achieve this target,” he said.
Responding to a question on the country’s military budget, Finance Minister said this is an important sector, but it was not mentioned separately in the budget due to time constraints.
Finance Secretary Abdur Rauf informed that the military budget received an 8 percent higher allocation than the current fiscal year.
Budget 2021-22: Defence allocation up 8%
The allocation for defence in the budget for the FY2021-22 has been increased by Tk28.49 billion fromn the outgoing fiscal year.
Tk 376.91 billion has been proposed for the Defense Ministry and other services under the ministry in the national budget for the 2021-22 fiscal.
Also read: New budget unveiled with focus on protecting lives and livelihoods
An amount of Tk 348.42 billion was proposed for the Defense Ministry in the national budget for outgoing 2020-21 fiscal year.
Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal made the announcement during the budget speech at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban on Thursday. He placed the proposed total budget of Tk 6,03,681 crore for 2021-22 - it was Tk 5,68,000 for the outgoing fiscal.
Also read: Budget: Govt allocates Tk 587 crore for cultural affairs, activists unhappy
Besides, Tk44 crore has been set aside as operating costs of the Armed Forces Division which was Tk41 crore in the 2020-21 budget.
Budget only to widen debt burden: BNP
BNP on Thursday described the proposed national budget for 2021-22 FY as anti-poor one and said people’s debt burden will get heavier if it is implemented.
The party also thinks the ruling party leaders and their relatives, not the marginalised poor people, will benefit from the new budget.
“In the 50 years of independence, Awami League government has given the country a budget with a deficit of more than one-third. To fill this gap, the government will take loans from domestic and foreign sources. This is how the government is imposing an additional burden of debt on people,” said BNP standing committee member Dr Abdul Moyeen Khan.
In an instant written reaction to the budget, he said the budget has been formulated with a 35.56 percent deficit which will be filled through taking loans from foreign or domestic sources.
Also read: New budget unveiled with focus on protecting lives and livelihoods
Dr Moyeen said their party tried in the past to take the country out of foreign-debt dependence. “On the other hand, the Awami League is repeatedly making the country's economy dependent on foreign loans due to their chaotic mega projects and mega corruption.”
He said every child in the country is getting into debt before birth due to formulation of such budgets repeatedly by the Awami League government.
“This year’s proposed budget has manifested that the government is imposing the burden of debt on the common people,” the BNP leader observed.
Another BNP standing committee member Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury said the proposed budget is formulated without considering the interests and plights of marginal poor people in the country.
“The extreme poor, day-labourers and those who work in the informal sector, including rickshaw-pullers, those who push carts, those who sell food and beverage and tea sellers, have been badly affected by coronavirus. But there’s no incentive or cash transfer measures for them in the budget,” he said.
Also read: New budget: Tracking prices going up and down
Talking to reporters at his Banani residence, the BNP leader also said the budget has been formulated to appease the ruling party leaders and their relatives. “This budget will help make their bank balances bigger.”
He thinks the budgetary allocation for the health and education sectors are not enough at a time of a pandemic.
Khosru said it is now imperative to protect people’s lives and livelihoods instead of spending money on mega projects.
He said there should be an outline in the budget about how to protect the 5-6 crore people involved in the informal sector. “We must protect those who have lost jobs and are affected financially. Our party has earlier suggested allocating 7/8 percent of the GDP for giving them incentives. But we’ve seen that only 1/2 percent of GDP has been kept for them.”
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
Sources: Agriculture to get increased subsidy in the upcoming national budget
Government subsidies in the upcoming budget for 2021-22 fiscal are likely to increase by Tk10,000 crore with agriculture sector slated to get the highest allocation, official sources said on Saturday.
The agriculture gets the priority in line with the government’s policy to ensure food security during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, said the sources at the the Finance Ministry and the National Board of Revenue (NBR).
Also Read: Cabinet nods Agricultural Good Practices Policy to ensure safe food
They hinted that the total subsidy amount for the next fiscal may reach Tk 49,000 crore, up from Tk 38,600 crore in the current budget.
This amount is almost 8% of the proposed Tk. 602,880-crore budget, said the sources.
An amount of Tk 9500 crore has been earmarked for subsidising the agriculture sector, they said.
Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal will place the budget on June 3 in Parliament. The theme of the document is ‘Priority on lives and livelihoods, tomorrow’s Bangladesh’.
According to the sources, the revenue target for the next fiscal has been set Tk 389,078 crore, where Tk 330,078 crore will be contributed by the NBR.
Power sector is to get a subsidy of Tk 9000, Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) Tk 8500 crore and Tk 7300 crore for export support.
Expatriate workers will continue to get incentives as the budget may propose an amount of Tk 4000 crore in subsidy in this sector. This is up from Tk 3000 in the running fiscal.
The government is providing 2% incentives on their total amount of remitted money to encourage expatriate Bangladeshis to send money through legal channel.
During the pandemic the inflow of remittance increased surprisingly despite fear of a slowdown.
According to Bangladesh Bank data, Tk 17534 crore came in April, Tk 16205 crore in March, Tk 15100 crore in February and Tk 16637 crore in January.
The amount in food subsidy would be Tk 6500 crore.
The new budget will take note of the huge number of poor and low income people who have been seriously affected by the pandemic, the sources said.
The government is distributing food assistance through relief programmes _ sale at rice at fair price _ that increases the amount of subsidy in the sector.
Meanwhile, from the very beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic the government had declared various types of stimulus packages for every sector to boost up the economic activities.
So far the government has announced 23 packages of Tk 124,000 crore which is over 4% of the GDP.
The power sector subsidy is needed as the government buys at a higher from the private operators, selling at a lower price to the pubic users.
The same is the case for the LNG as it imported at a higher price.
Deal period with rental, quick rental power plant owners can’t be extended: BPDB Chairman
Although the government has allowed rental and quick rental power plants on short-term basis, now their owners are pursuing for long term agreement which cannot be acceptable in any case, said Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) Chairman Belayet Hossain.
Belayet Hossain made the remarks while speaking at a webinar titled: “Upcoming National Budget FY 2021-22: Expectation of Power Producers” on Saturday.
He observed that despite huge criticism from the mass people, the government allowed these high cost rental and quick rental power plants as remedy to the power crisis of that times.
“But these high cost power plants cannot operate beyond their short-term agreement period”, he added.
Forum for Energy Reporters Bangladesh (FERB) organised the online seminar with its chairman Arun Karmaker which was also addressed by State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid, Power Secretary Habibur Rahman, Power Cell director general Mohammad Hossain, and President of Bangladesh Independent Power Producers Assertion (BIPPA) Imran Karim.
BIPPA Vice President Mozammel Hossain made a presentation on the topic while FERB executive director Shamim Jahangir conducted the webinar.
The BPDB Chairman noted that still the government has to purchase electricity at a much higher rate from the private power producers and sell it to the consumers at lower rate that incurs a huge financial loss to the BPDB.
This creates huge gap of Tk 1.60 per units between the BPDB’s average generation cost and electricity supply to the consumers, he noted adding that the government had to provide Tk 7000-8000 crore in the current fiscal as subsidy to fill the gap.
“This fiscal year, this gap will go up and the government has to provide increased subsidy”, he said adding that there is indication that allocation for power sector may be decreased in the upcoming national as the government’s focus is shifting to health sector.
State Minister Nasrul Hamid said the BPDB has to be more efficient in power generation by retiring the inefficient power plant without showing many excuse.
He, however, agreed different demands of the private power producers like lowering the income tax, reducing import duty on furnace oil, waiving advance income tax and removing complexities in stamp duty.
Power Secretary Habibur Rahman assured the private power producers to palce their demands to the National Board of Revenue.
BIPPA president Imran Karim said the private power producers have to face difficult times due to the increased import duty of furnace oil to 34 percent and also for obligation on paying advance income tax.
Mohammad Hossain said although the country’s power generation capacity reached over 24,000 MW, still industries do not trust that the government can supply quality power.
“That’s why 3000 MW power is being generated by the captive power producers in the industrial sector”, he added.
Mozammel Hossain said private power producers are facing delay in getting their payments against the sale of electricity to the government.
He also alleged that private power producers are not getting environmental clearance certificates before commissioning of their power plants.
Protect consumption, promote employment in next budget: Debapriya
Consumption protection and employment promotion should be the dual priorities of the upcoming national budget during the Covid-19 pandemic, said renowned economist and public policy analyst Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya.
To this end, the government has to give direct and substantive fiscal support to the traditionally disadvantaged communities as well as to the “new poor”, he said in an interview with UNB about the national budget for fiscal year 2021-22.
Dr Debapriya said the new budget also needs to promote domestic market-oriented industrial diversification and introduce a universal social protection system.
He said the expansionary fiscal policy should focus not on maximising the public expenditures for health exigencies, but also put more disposable income in the hands of disadvantaged households and investable resources in the hands of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
Also read: Dhaka, Delhi need much stronger framework for future economic ties: Debapriya
The international noted economist said the new budget should neither increase tax rate nor apply new taxes, but should focus on improving efficiency of tax administration to prevent tax leakages and evasion, stop undue exemptions and definitely discontinue favouring black money launderers.
Core Budget with a longer time frame
Noting that one of the fundamental issues for the next budget will be dealing with the protracted impact of the Covid-19, Dr Debapriya said the last budget was done under the incorrect assumption that the pandemic would vanish within 3-4 months and then normalcy would be restored in the economy.
“At that time, we pointed out that even if health emergencies subside, socio-economic impact of pandemic will be felt much longer. Now 12 months later we’re in the midst of another Covid peak,” he said.
The basic point is that, under the circumstances, public expenditure choices and other fiscal decisions within one-year time-frame is not appropriate from policy perspectives, he added.
“So, a “core budget” focused on defeating the pandemic and recovering from the fall-outs demand a time policy frame of at least two-three years. This has to be aligned with the current Five Year Plan (2021-25), SDG delivery schedule and climate action commitments,” he said adding that a core budget is essential identifying major policy instruments which will ensure the reprioritised development outcomes.
Also read: Development community needs to support graduating LDC: Debapriya
“The development variable needs to be reprioritised from the point of view of employment retention and generation and no less important will be protection of consumption, otherwise poverty rate and inequality will increase further,” he said.
Favouring an expansionary fiscal policy, Dr Debapriya emphasised the need for accelerating public expenditures and improving supply of liquidity to boost domestic demand for goods and services.
Spending more is the challenge
Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya said the major challenge for the government is that even if it wants to enhance public expenditures, it is not being able to do so. One critically constraining factor is this regard is the stagnating (if not falling) tax-GDP ratio. Low utilisation of foreign aid is further increasing resource pressure.
However, the government’s inability to spend whatever money it has is due to low absorptive capacity of the public agencies, he said, adding that poor quality of public expenditures remains a major concern too. Streamlining the implementation of public expenditure portfolio will be an overriding priority for the next budget, mentioned Dr Debapriya.
Mentioning that there has been the marginal increase in the budget deficit (the deficit is now around 5 percent of GDP) over the last two-three years, he said, “In the financing of the budget deficit, we are using costlier domestic borrowing rather than international concessional funds. “And the utilised international funds are mostly less concessional, together resulting in increased debt burden”.
The public policy analyst said that the post-Covid mid-term recovery programme demands structural reforms to make the fiscal framework efficient and effective. “The recovery demands a high-energy fiscal multiplier effect.t. For that the government also not only has to spend more, but it will also have to give the money to those people who have greater propensity to consume and invest,” said the macro-economist.
Need larger direct fiscal transfer
“So, the very important part in the Covid recovery would be in the future to have much more targeted fiscal transfer along with food support for the traditionally marginalised communities as well as to the newly disadvantages households (the so-called new poor)” he said. He held that while the government announced programmes are in the right direction, they are miniscule in comparison to need and often implemented in a deficient way.
Dr Debapriya maintained that overwhelming portion of the disbursed pandemic-related public support (stimulus package) went to the big businesses, while a small portion to MSMEs, informal sector and other disadvantaged communities and activities.
It is obvious that these people will not be able to off-set the adverse fall-outs of the pandemic through monetary policy measures including the ones with interest rate subsidy. Thus, it calls for food support and direct cash transfer in larger volume through effective digital financial inclusion, he opined.
Use domestic demand to accelerate growth
Given the emerging global situation and our recent Covid-time experience, Bangladesh should boost its aggregate demand for GDP growth by aggressively stimulating domestic demand. “For example, we need to invest further in agro-based manufacturing, post-harvest mechanisation in agriculture, digital platform-based activities,” he said.
Also read: New conversation on int'l dev cooperation needed: Debapriya
“Since the international market will remain volatile in near future, we would need to urgently improve our domestic productive capacity to diversify our labour-intensive manufacturing base for inclusive growth,” said the economist. Upcoming budget should deploy fiscal measures to promote labour productivity across sectors.
Time for universal social protection
Dr Debapriya said the Covid has given us the lesson that Bangladesh needs to move from the safety net programme for the poor to universal social security for all citizens. “We need to move from mere expansion of social safety net programmes to a universal social protection scheme as majority of Bangladesh's population is without any public or private support system,” he added.
The recognised economist pointed out that the except the government employees, the poor who are under the social safety net and a small number of private service holders who have pension schemes, the overwhelming rest of the population are not under any public or private social insurance scheme. “So, it will be only opportune for this year’s national budget to initiate a universal social protection scheme for all citizens of Bangladesh.”
CPD: Next budget should stress health, social safety
The Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) on Thursday said the national budget for 2021-22 should highlight several areas including ensuring better health facilities for Covid patients and enhancing social safety net programmes for poor, new poor and marginalised people.
Besides, raising allocation for employment-enhancing infrastructure development projects and supporting agriculture, SMEs and export-oriented industries for their recovery and thereby keeping the existing jobs should be emphasized in the upcoming budget.
The suggestions came up with the webinar of CPD Media Briefing on Recommendations for the National Budget FY2021-22.
Also read: Fall in Bangladesh’s export, govt expenditure a big concern: CPD
CPD Senior Research Fellow Towfiqul Islam Khan read out the presentation while its Executive Director Dr Fahmida Khatun moderated the function.
Towfiqul Islam said the FY22 budget will need to address the weak performance of FY21 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 as also the medium-term fiscal reform issues with a view to making a recovery sustainable.
“The budget for FY22 needs to give equal importance to receiving funding opportunities and ensuring proper use of the funds. Besides, the revenue mobilisation strategy should be designed considering realistic manner, readjustments in tax provisions, enforcement of tax measures and curbing tax evasion. And implementation of medium-term reform plans should receive high priority,” he added.
Towfiqul informed as the country is passing through the second wave of the pandemic, the policymakers, once again are posed with the challenge of maintaining a balance between the lives and livelihoods.
The official GDP growth of 5.2% in a pandemic year was not so unsatisfactory, particularly because almost all other countries have experienced much more lower if not negative growth. The government had projected a growth rate of 7.4% for FY21, which was a highly optimistic projection.
Also read: Budget traditional, lacks guidelines to address Covid-19 issues: CPD
“CPD reiterates the need for an expansionary macroeconomic stance in the budget for FY22 which accommodates the needed additional public spending. The government should put more efforts for higher foreign aid to underwrite the fiscal deficit. Increased budget deficit should be justified by prudent reallocation and re-prioritisation of public expenditure needs in FY22,” he also added.
In view of Bangladesh’s LDC graduation in 2026, obligations and compliance requirements as a developing country should be identified, and gradually reforms in the taxation system should be put in place.
CPD would like to recommend that NBR introduces taxes for proxies for pollution, by tax region, in alignment with what was mentioned in the “Public Financial Management (PFM) Action Plan 2018-2023 to implement The PFM Reform Strategy 2016-2021” Towfiqul said.
He added that the provision of whitening of black/undisclosed money facility through voluntary disclosure of undisclosed income should be discontinued in the budget for FY22.
CPD Distinguished Fellow Professor Mustafizur Rahman said during the first wave of the Covid-19, they stated poverty rate increased 35 percent from 20 percent due to the pandemic. So, each poor family should provide Tk8,000 in two times in a year.
“If we kept Tk30,000 crore, then it was 1 percent of our GDP. Actually cash transfer is suitable way to assist poor during the pandemic. We have to emphasis on revenue collection otherwise how the government will assist people,” the economist also said.
Mustafizur said reducing corruption and ensuring transparency in all sectors in the country is the most important during the disaster.
CPD Research Director Dr Khondaker Golam Moazzem said the government has taken different programs to assist people those really appreciable.
“But, someone takes the assistance several times and someone does not get that. In this context, the government can support from different NGOs who are working with slum dwellers and other poor for proper distribution,” he also said.