Proposed budget pro-people and poor-friendly: Hasan Mahmud
Awami League Joint General Secretary and Information and Broadcasting Minister Hasan Mahmud said that the proposed budget for the fiscal year 2023-24 is designed to prioritise the needs of the people and is particularly friendly towards the poor.
He also emphasised that the budget is not reliant on foreign aid in any way.
"Many people are busy criticising the budget without reading it well," the minister said while exchanging views with journalists at his official residence on Minto Road in the capital on Friday.
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He said, "The current GDP in PPP (Purchasing Power Parity) is one trillion-plus dollars, i.e. about ten times bigger than the GDP of 2009, which is undoubtedly indicative of the country's progress and prosperity."
The information minister said that budget preparation for the upcoming fiscal was a big challenge due to the slowdown in economic activities due to the global recession, the Russia-Ukraine war, the dollar crisis etc, yet it is about one lakh thousand crores more than the last fiscal year.
Regarding the ongoing inflation in the country, Hasan Mahmud said that those who are talking about inflation have not read the budget properly. Because inflation has been discussed in many ways in the budget.
Regarding the tax policy included in the budget, the information minister characterised it as a positive step.
"People of this country do not want to pay taxes even after being eligible to pay taxes. In 2009, only 11 lakh people paid income tax, whereas last year, that number increased to 29 lakh. However, there are approximately 2 crore people who are eligible to pay income tax but choose not to do so. So, expanding the tax base is not unreasonable," he said.
