Parliament passes Tk603,681cr budget for FY22

Parliament has passed a Tk603,681 crore national budget for the fiscal year 2021-2022 that aims to attain a 7.2% GDP growth by putting priority to the lives and livelihood of the country's people in tandem with development amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

The national budget for the next fiscal year titled "Bangladesh Towards a Resilient Future Protecting Lives and Livelihoods" was passed on Wednesday, which was also the last day of the outgoing fiscal year (FY21).

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal moved the Appropriation Bill, 2021 seeking a budgetary allocation of Tk792,912.95 crore which was passed by voice vote.

Earlier on Tuesday, parliament passed the Finance Bill, 2021 with some changes.

Following the proposal mooted in the House by the Finance Ministry for the parliamentary approval of appropriation of fund for meeting necessary development and non-development expenditures of the government, the ministers concerned placed justifications for the expenditures by their respective ministries through 59 demands for grant.

Earlier, the Parliament rejected by voice vote a total of only 625 cut-motions that stood in the name of opposition members on 59 demands for grants for different ministries.

A total of twelve MPs from the Jatiya Party and BNP submitted their cut-motions on the budget.

Earlier, on 3 June the finance minister in his 192-page budget speech highlighted various steps of the government to mitigate the shocks from the Covid-19 and the way forward to a sustainable economic recovery.

The total budget size of Tk603,681 crore for FY22 is 17.5% of the GDP. Total allocation  for  operating  and  other expenditures  has  been  set  at  Tk378,357 crore, while the allocation for the Annual Development Programme (ADP) is Tk225,324 crore.

The overall budget deficit for FY22 will be Tk214,681 crore, which is 6.2% of GDP while the budget deficit in the last fiscal year was 6.1%.

Out of  the  total  deficit,  Tk101,228 crore  will  be  financed  from  external  sources,  while Tk113,453 crore from  domestic  sources  of  which Tk76,452  crore  will  come  from  the banking system  and  Tk37,001 crore  from  savings certificates  and  other non-bank sources.

The growth rate for FY22 has been fixed at 7.2% remaining consistent with the government's long-term plan and taking the post Covid-19 recovery situation into account. The inflation rate during this period is expected to remain within 5.3%.

With giving utmost  priority  to  the  programmes  and  steps  taken  by the government to address the Covid-19 pandemic, the government also allocated Tk32,731  crore  for  the  health  and  family  welfare sector  in  the  next fiscal year, which was Tk29,245 crore in FY21.

Considering the impact of the pandemic, the government has made allocation of Tk107,614 crore in the social safety net sector, which is 17.83% of the budget and 3.11% of the GDP.

The government has set the target  for  total  revenue income  in  the  FY22  at  Tk389,000  crore,  which  is  11.3%  of  the GDP.  Out of  this,  Tk330,000 crore  will  be  collected  through the  NBR  sources.