Bangladesh has always battled and progressed through crises. But what future awaits us?

Using a tax simulation model, we assessed the expected impact of the tax and price increases on cigarette consumption, tax revenues, and health outcomes and compared it with current budget proposals.

It is not clear how the money needed to implement this ambitious budget will be sourced.

The man eager to pay back his debt is becoming a rarity. Yet, he represents the hardworking, honest Bangladesh that can bring real change to the system.

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal yesterday said that though he is worried about the elevated level of consumer prices, the situation is still under the government’s control.

The measures taken in the proposed budget for the next fiscal year have failed to address the most difficult challenge of containing inflation, and as a result, the suffering of common people will increase further, the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) said yesterday.

The new budget has not displayed cognisance of the need for post-pandemic recovery and remedial actions.

Self-contradictory is what best describes Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal’s fifth budget, and the last of the Awami League-led government’s current term.

There is not much in it to make us feel better in terms of its focus and measures.

An underwhelming budget at a time of overwhelming crisis

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal today in his budget speech hoped that the ongoing stress in the foreign exchange reserves would improve in a short period of time.

The allocation for the health sector in the proposed budget for the 2023-24 fiscal year has been reduced to approximately 5 percent of the national budget from 5.4 percent in the outgoing fiscal year

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has proposed withdrawing supplementary duty (SD) on 234 imported goods and regulatory duty (RD) on 191 imported goods in fiscal year 2023-24 to aid Bangladesh’s graduation from a least developed country (LDC) to a developing one by 2026.

The reserves stood at $29.91 billion today in contrast to $42.20 billion during the same period a year ago.

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal in his budget speech revealed that more than 1.49 crore Bangladeshi workers are working in 176 countries across the world

In his budget speech for FY2023-24 at the national parliament today, Kamal said inflation would be largely controlled from here on.

The finance minister presented the new budget for the fiscal year 2023-2024 in the parliament on Thursday.

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal today in his budget speech said that a digital bank would be set up within the next fiscal year to broaden and accelerate financial inclusion efforts. 

The government proposed going for making the Baggage Rules 2016 stricter, lower the limit for the travellers in case of bringing in gold bar or gold pieces and impose higher taxes.

Education ministries got a chop for the next fiscal year as the proposed development allocation for them is lower than the allocation of the outgoing fiscal year.