Business as usual

Economists and businesspeople in general have labelled the proposed national budget for fiscal 2021-2022 a conventional one which is seemingly a continuation of last year's financial plan.

Besides, the necessary allocations and strategy reforms needed to address the new challenges stemming from Covid-19 have not been taken, they said.

Even employment generation, which is a key economic issue amidst the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, did not receive enough focus.

But still, the government should now emphasise on the immediate implementation of policies, projects, and other initiatives that have been included in the fiscal plan to tackle Covid-19, they added.

AB Mirza Azizul Islam, a former adviser to a caretaker government, expressed concerns about the plan's implementation and how the government would fulfil its revenue target given that the budget implementation rate has been low for the past 10 years.

Selim Raihan, an economics professor at the University of Dhaka, said the proposed budget does not match the government's Covid-19 strategy as there was a clear gap between reality and the plan.

Sayema Haque Bidisha, another economics professor at the University of Dhaka, said no big allocation or reform of any new strategy or direction has been taken to address the new challenges.

Jashim Uddin, president of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry, said the budget's size shows that the government's commitment to meet the needs of the country's people was not unrealistic under the current circumstances.

Rizwan Rahman, president of the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI), said the government has accepted some of the DCCI proposals.

Kazi Iqbal, director of research at the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), said when speaking to people directly involved with the budget, it was clear that there was no room for too much innovation under the current situation.

Mahtab Uddin, an economics lecturer at the University of Dhaka, said, "Taxes on technological products have risen and there was a need to increase the budget for education. But that didn't happen."

Abul Kasem Khan, chairman of Business Initiative Leading Development (BUILD), considers the proposed budget to be business friendly as the government reduced corporate tax by 2.5 per cent.

According to a press release, AmCham President Syed Ershad Ahmed said the recommendations they put forward to the government have mostly been reflected on the budget.

Nihad Kabir, president of the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said she did not expect the government to provide so many tax exemptions in the coming budget.

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB) believes that the National Board of Revenue's joint venture with ICAB in implementing the Document Verification System (DVS) will help the country achieve its revenue target, according ICAB president Mahmudul Hassan Khusru.

Zakaria Shahid, general secretary of Bangladesh Mobile Phone Importers Association, said the provision to increase taxes on imported smartphones would help foster the local mobile industry.

In its statement, BUILD said that the budget seems good in terms of the overall situation while promoting the "Made in Bangladesh" concept would not only help business diversify their portfolios, but also facilitate the country's graduation from the UN's least developed grouping.

Mahbubul Alam, president of the Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said reducing corporate tax to the benefit of domestic industries would boost the economy.