Efficient use of funds must be priority

Leading up to the national budget for the 2021-22 fiscal year (which amounted to Tk 603,681 crore—17.5 percent of the GDP), all eyes were on strengthening the health and education sectors, keeping pandemic recovery in mind. Now, given the lasting impact of the Covid pandemic on the economy and the fallout of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, the focus seems to be on coping with the incoming macroeconomic pressures. At a recent meeting of the Fiscal Coordination Council, presided over by the finance minister, the Finance Division proposed that the size of the national budget for 2022-23 fiscal year would be Tk 677,874 crore, or 15.4 percent of the GDP, which is 12 percent bigger than the outgoing budget.

We encourage the recommendation for the government to avoid hard loans and discourage the import of luxury goods as this may reduce pressure on our declining foreign exchange reserves. The revenue collection target of Tk 433,000 crore seems ambitious, and we doubt how realistic it would be, particularly given our poor track record regarding revenue collection in the past.

While it is important to plan the upcoming budget with a mind to cushion the blow of the current global inflation, this must not be done by exerting pressure on the general public. One of the major upsets from the outgoing budget was that the allocation for the education sector had remained the same, despite how the pandemic had nearly demolished this sector. The government must not make similar mistakes this time, namely by "slowly adjusting" the prices of essentials such as power, oil, gas and fertilisers. At a time when a majority of the public is having to deal with the brunt of the increasing prices of essentials, lowering subsidies for power, gas and oil will only increase people's suffering. Instead, the government should look to reduce wastage to lower its budget deficit.

What is needed is for the budget allocation to be used effectively and efficiently across the board, something the relevant authorities have failed to do consistently over the past years. Wastage of funds for large-scale projects—due to corruption, time extensions, etc—is something we witness regularly. Therefore, the focus should be on completing projects on time and by not wasting public money. Price hikes for essentials may be necessary to balance the budget, but this cannot be done by adding to the sufferings of the general public.