Stimulus programmes will continue in the coming fiscal year: Finance minister

Stimulus programmes will continue in the coming fiscal year to further accelerate the pace of development by speeding up the recovery process and bringing the economy back to its pre-pandemic state, said Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal.

"While the adversities arising from the Covid pandemic have eased up, a new crisis has emerged from of Russia-Ukraine conflict. We have seriously considered this evolving crisis in determining the priority areas of the government in the forthcoming budget. Special emphasis has been given in the budget on the implementation of various programmes to generate employment in the industrial sector, CMSME, service sector and rural informal sector and employment for the returnee migrant workers," the finance minister said during the budget speech on Thursday (9 June). 

He added that the implementation of the stimulus packages announced by  Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will continue to offset the loses of the affected enterprises, keep the economy afloat and help the temporarily jobless workers during the pandemic.

"In addition, the programmes that the government has adopted with a focus on increasing the coverage of social security, housing for the homeless poor and distributing free or low-cost food among low-income people will continue," he said. 

The finance minister said that one of the priorities of the government is to provide emergency financial assistance to the low-income people who become jobless or their income is reduced due to natural disasters like floods, flash-floods, storm surges, hail storms, cyclones or other financial crisis.

"In FY2021-2022, we established a fund called 'Fund for Managing the Shocks of Natural Disasters'. We would like to continue this support in the next fiscal year. I, therefore, propose an allocation of Taka 5,000 crore in the budget for this fund for fiscal year 2022-2023," he added.