Reservations remain on budget

The budget has been overwhelmingly welcomed by most quarters. The business community and the various chambers of commerce have hailed the proposed budget for 2015-16 as a business-friendly one. However concerns continue to be voiced by various quarters about how well budgetary allocations made to various sectors will be utilised. Given the general trend of underutilisation of the annual development plan (ADP), as last year's ADP saw a utlisiation of  51 per cent in the first 10 months, it remains our concern whether a mere enhancing the size of the budget will bring about desired results. Economists have raised the issue of whether this year's budget has a monitor-able transparent plan for its proper implementation.

With GDP growth rate targeted to reach 7 per cent, the question is whether clear guidelines have been made to improve the efficacy of spending. The absence of such mechanism will inevitably lead to wastage of funds in different sectors. The other primary concern for us is whether the NBR will be able to raise Tk1.76 trillion in revenue target, which is 30 per cent higher than that of the last fiscal. And we are yet to hear anything from the finance minister on good governance and addressing the issues of corruption which are vital to ensuring that resources are spent where they are most needed. At the end of the day, pouring in more money without strict oversight will neither be productive nor conducive to achieving the targeted level of growth rate.