BNP on Wednesday, June 4, described the proposed national budget for the 2025-26 fiscal year as ‘unilateral, traditional and non-participatory’ and said it fails to offer concrete strategies to address long-standing economic vulnerabilities, including soaring inflation and rising poverty.“BNP has been cooperating with the interim government in every possible way. We expected that the interim government would formulate the budget through discussions with the political parties involved in the movement to establish a minimum level of national consensus,” BNP Standing Committee Member Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdury told a press conference. He said the interim government could have sought opinions from various segments of society -- experts, civil society members, business leaders and youth representatives.

“If that had happened, the budget would have symbolised a coordinated economic vision. It would have reflected the voices of different sections of the country. But that opportunity was not utilised. As a result, the budget formulation has been one-sided, non-participatory, and conventional. It lacked the reflection of new thinking,” the BNP leader said.

In the current special circumstances, he said this dialogue was even more urgent for the interim government before finalising the budget since an elected government will come into power in the 2025-26 fiscal year.

BNP arranged the press conference at its chairperson’s Gulshan office to give the party’s formal reaction to the proposed budget.

On Monday, Finance Adviser Salehuddin Ahmed unveiled a Tk 790,000 crore national budget for the 2025–26 fiscal year, which begins in July.

Stating that the budget should be formulated keeping in mind the standard of living of the common people, Amir Khosru said the proposed budget does not reflect the principles of a discrimination-free society for which the movement was carried out.

He pointed out that the budget did not provide clear solutions for ongoing economic problems like high inflation, growing poverty, low private investment and fewer job opportunities.

The BNP leader criticised the budget for focusing on unnecessary, corruption-prone projects while cutting allocations for important sectors like education, health and agriculture.

Khosru said the main objective of the budget should have been to present a roadmap for increasing private investment.

For economic recovery, he said it was necessary to prioritise the establishment of industries, job creation, as well as investment in education, healthcare and agriculture. “It was urgent to support the creation of new entrepreneurs through assistance to the small, cottage and medium enterprises. The combination of high interest rates along with increased taxes and duties will place significant pressure on the industrial sector.”

The BNP leader said productive sectors in particular will be adversely affected, with the risk that many businesses may shut down and employment could decline. “If the financial burden on the middle and lower-income classes increases, it may lead to greater economic instability. Progress in poverty alleviation could also come to a halt.”

He criticised various budget proposals, including bringing private universities, medical colleges and schools under the tax net, increasing duties on online businesses and offering no incentives for general investors in the capital market.

If the BNP comes to power in the future, Khosru said educational institutions will be fully exempted from taxes.

He also opposed the provision allowing the whitening of black money, saying, “This opportunity rewards tax evaders. It is unjust towards regular, honest taxpayers.”

"Such policies may erode public confidence in the taxation system. Changes in the income tax slabs will negatively impact the majority of taxpayers. Rather than tackling tax evasion, fraud, or expanding the tax net, the government has again shifted the tax burden onto ordinary citizens through increased VAT. This has led to rising prices of goods and a declining standard of living,” Khosru observed.

Stating that current inflation is nearly in double digits, he said the Finance Adviser’s claim that it will be brought down to 6.5 percent seems unrealistic.

“The rising poverty rate could have been contained. According to World Bank data, over 2.7 million people have fallen into deeper poverty during the tenure of the caretaker government… With both domestic and foreign investment stagnating, employment opportunities have declined across almost all formal and informal sectors, further contributing to the growing number of people living in poverty,” the BNP leader said.

According to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, he said GDP growth for the 2024–25 fiscal year was 3.97 percent. “Yet, in this year’s budget, it has been projected at 5.6 percent, an unrealistic and paper-based figure, much like those of the previous government.”

Noting that food security is under threat, Khosru said public allocation for social protection remains insufficient.

BNP Standing Committee members Gayeshwar Chandra Roy, Selima Rahman, Chairperson’s Advisory Council member Ismail Zabihullah and Economic Affairs Secretary Khaled Jashim Mahbub Shyamal were also present at the press conference. Source: UNB