Highest ever budget presented in parliament

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has presented Tk 523,190 crore ($61.78billion) budget for the fiscal year of 2019-20.

The new budget is 18.1 per cent of GDP.

Total allocation for operating and other expenditures is Tk 320,469 crore, and allocation for the annual development programme (ADP) is Tk 202,721 crore.

“You will be happy to know that we are going to implement our long-awaited Value Added Tax (VAT) Act, 2012 from the coming fiscal year,” said the finance minister.

Depending on the planned tax management steps, the total revenue collection has been estimated to be Tk 377,810 crore in 2019-20. Out of this, Tk 325,660 crore will be collected through the National Board of Revenue (NBR).

Tax revenue from non-NBR sources have been estimated at Tk 14,500 crore. Besides, non-tax revenue is estimated at Tk 37,710 crore.

The overall budget deficit will be Tk 145,380 crore, which is 5 per cent of Gross domestic product (GDP).

In financing the deficit, Tk 68,016 crore will come from external sources and Tk 77,363 crore from domestic sources.

Amongst the financing from domestic sources, Tk 47,364 crore will come from the banking system and Tk 30,000 crore from savings certificates and other non-bank sources.

Kamruzzaman