Finance
Budget Proposed budget is not ambitious, but future-oriented: Atiur Rahman
Dhaka, June 17: Former Governor of Bangladesh Bank Professor Dr. Atiur Rahman has commented that the proposed budget for the upcoming 2023-24 financial year is not ambitious at all, but rather forward-looking.
He said, this is basically a budget to deal with challenges. Between 2006 and 2023, the economy of Bangladesh has changed drastically. For example, the size of agriculture has increased 4 times, exports have increased 5 times, remittances have increased 6 times. At present, the growth of Bangladesh has been more than 6 percent.
He said these things at a discussion meeting titled 'Building a prosperous and balanced Bangladesh: Budget 2023-24' organized at the National Press Club on Friday. Education, Research and Development Forum Bangladesh (ERDFB), a research-based organization consisting of university teachers, organized the discussion.
Dr. Atiur Rahman said that even in difficult situations like Covid, the per capita income of Bangladesh has increased by almost 30 times from what it was in 1971. The current government's successful budget has reduced the poor and ultra-poor by 18.5 and 5.6 percent respectively.
He said that the current budget has a lot of emphasis on social security, which is mainly due to the encouragement of the government. This budget is by no means ambitious but forward-looking. This budget will play a major role in controlling the current inflation.
In the speech of the chief guest, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology Vice-Chancellor Dr. Satya Prasad Majumdar said that the current budget will help in building a smart, prosperous and balanced Bangladesh by combining these three things – education, research and development. By giving a lot of emphasis to the agriculture sector in the budget, it is proving that the budget will play a helpful role in building a smart and prosperous Bangladesh by building a smart agricultural system. It is not necessary to announce the budget. Rather, we have to make proper use of the budget. Emphasizing the use of technology in all sectors of Bangladesh, the current budget will play an important role in building a smart, prosperous and balanced Bangladesh.
