New budget to take Bangladesh one step forward: PM

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday said the proposed national budget for the FY 2024-25 was not an ambitious one, vowing to take Bangladesh one step forward through the implementation of the new budget.

"I don't consider the budget as an ambitious one. --- we will take Bangladesh one step ahead through the implementation of the budget," she said while taking part in the discussion on the proposed budget in parliament.

This is the largest ever budget in size of Tk 7.97 lakh crore in the history of Bangladesh with Tk 2.65 lakh crore annual development program (ADP) and 6.75 percent growth rate, she said.

Some people have called the budget an ambitious one while some others a deficit one, saying that “it is not possible to implement the budget and we have to reduce the growth target and ADP,” she said.

The Prime Minister said the government is capable of taking the challenge of implementing the budget.

"Taking challenges is our job. We want to move on by taking challenge and we have been marching ahead by accepting the challenge," she added.

Speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury presided over the sitting of the third session of the 12th Parliament.

On the 6th of June 2024, Finance Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali placed Tk 7,970 billion national budget for 2024-25 in parliament, which is only 4.6 percent bigger than that of the current fiscal year.

Source: BSS