Abdur Razzaque

Macroeconomic management will remain a formidable challenge for Bangladesh in the coming year.

In the wake of Covid-19 spreading in Europe and the US, global trade descended into a free-fall.

Preparing the budget for FY 2020-21 amid the Covid-19 pandemic has certainly been an extremely difficult task. Even then, there was room for being more realistic in providing headline budget targets and being more proactive in dealing with the profound health and livelihood challenges faced by numerous households in the country.

Making the budget for next fiscal year in this time of pandemic will most likely be the most challenging task shouldered by a finance minister yet.

Bangladesh has started dealing with the severe consequences of the global coronavirus pandemic in earnest, with curtailed economic activities manifested in factory closures, cancellation of and/or sharply reduced export orders, falling remittance inflows, and depressed demand for domestically produced goods and services.