Bangladesh has rolled out a Tk 6 trillion spending plan to breathe new life into a flagging economy following a year of tumult induced by the coronavirus pandemic, bdnews24.com reported.
 
Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal on Thursday tabled the national budget for fiscal 2021-22 -- the largest in the country's history -- in a brief parliamentary session due to the ongoing coronavirus crisis.

Continuing with the theme of safeguarding lives and livelihoods amid the pandemic, Kamal's third national budget of Tk 6.04 trillion, about 17.4 percent of the GDP, is about 12 percent higher than the revised outlay for the outgoing fiscal year. And it is a 6.34 percent increase from the original spending plan for the outgoing year.

Facing the headwinds of the crippling coronavirus pandemic for a second year, Kamal laid stress on trade and commerce, which have taken a hit because of the Covid surge.

The government is seeking to finance 64.45 percent of the proposed expenditures from this sector, setting a revenue target of Tk 3.89 trillion, an 11 percent increase over the current fiscal.

However, the proposed budget runs a record deficit of  Tk 2.15 trillion, or 6.2 percent of the GDP, crossing the conventional 'red line' of five percent gap, much of which will be offset by heavy borrowings from domestic and foreign sources. The government plans to borrow Tk 1.01 trillion from foreign sources and Tk 1.13 trillion from domestic sources to cover the shortfall.

In FY21, the government set a GDP growth target of 8.2 percent which was later revised down to 6.1 percent in light of the pandemic. This time, Kamal is hoping to achieve 7.2 percent growth while keeping the inflation rate at 5.3 percent through the implementation of the budget.

(SAM)