Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) today lauded some points of the proposed budget for the fiscal 2021-22, urging it to be formulated to overcome the economic hardship due to COVID-19.
“Given the magnitude of negative impact on various sectors due to COVID19, CPD had emphasised on the need for medium term strategy for economic recovery. The budget for FY22 has no indication on this. This puts under risk the fulfillment of the promise made in the 50th budget to move towards a resilient future by giving priority to lives and livelihoods,” said CPD Executive Director Dr Fahmida Khatun while presenting the analysis of the national budget for the fiscal 2021-22 at a press briefing at a hotel here.
The independent think tank organised the media briefing to share its analysis on the Taka 6,03,680 crore national budget for fiscal year 2021-22 beginning from July.
Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal on Thursday placed the national budget for fiscal year 2021-22 (FY22) in the Jatiya Sangsad with a 7.2 percent GDP growth target attaching priority to the lives and livelihood of the country’s people in tandem with development amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Referring to the budget speech, Fahmida Khatun mentioned that health, agriculture and employment generation have been given priority while allocating resources for ADP.
She urged the government to take concrete reforms for the achievement of budgetary targets.
“Though there is a section on reforms in the budget document, it only refers to what has been done so far. It does not spell out what concrete reforms would be undertaken to improve the efficiency in the economy. The unfinished reform agenda in many areas such as tax, customs duty, banking sector, health sector and social sector has constrained the achievement of budgetary targets and its ability to cope with adverse impacts of the pandemic,” she added.
She informed that the government initiated a new rural development project, “My Village-My Town”, for 15 pilot villages all over the country.
However, she said, this covers only 0.01 percent (Total 87,310 villages, BBS 2011) of the villages in the country.
“The government should complete the pilot project and go for expanded coverage and scaling up, with more allocation, as early as possible. CPD proposed initiating such a project in order to enhance employment in rural areas through infrastructure development,” she added.
Fahmida Khatun laid emphasis on taking initiatives for easy access to computers and tablets for educational purposes.
She focused on prioritizing the utilisation of budget allocation on education and encouraging more investment on education.
CPD Distinguished Fellow Prof Mustafizur Rahman, Research Director Khondaker Golam Moazzem and its Senior Research Fellow Towfiqul Islam Khan also spoke during the event.
Source: BSS