Ensure people’s participation in budget: expert

The budget will never turn meaningful unless people are involved in its formulation and implementation, said Salehuddin Ahmed, a former governor of Bangladesh Bank, yesterday.

"The budget has no public participation. Economists have been called in to discuss the budget but their advice has not been followed," he said.

"The budget was raised and passed in parliament within a very short time without any questions being raised by members of parliament," he added.

"The budget discussion should start from January and it should provide an opportunity on analysing how much should be allocated to which sector and why it should be done," Ahmed said.

The biggest failure of this budget is not bringing up new poverty. The government forgets the new poverty. The budget needs to pay more attention to the people falling behind and small businesspeople, he added.

Ahmed was addressing a webinar, "What should be the pattern of a National Budget:

Towards a Decent Society" organised by Bangladesh Economic Association (BEA).

The webinar is the 12th edition of a "BEA 13-series webinar on decent society" based on research book "Society-Economy-State on the big screen: In search of a decent Bangladesh rising from the catastrophe of the virus" written by Prof Abul Barkat.

The 716 page book consists of 12 chapters and has a welcome remark by Noam Chomsky, a linguist, philosopher and social critic.

"The book mentions 24 new sources of earning of government revenue. The government will be able to earn Tk 6,44,000 crore from these sectors," said BEA General Secretary Jamaluddin Ahmed.

"In particular, Tk 168,100 crore should be earned through the recovery of black money in the country and Tk 75,000 crore smuggled abroad should be brought back," he added.

He said the book also contains 323 specific recommendations and 39 proposals for the government to implement a budget of Tk 17 lakh crore.

In order to establish a decent social system, the budget has to be formulated and implemented on the basis of the spirit of the Liberation War, said Prof Towfic Ahmad Chowdhury, director general of the Bangladesh Academy for Securities Market.

The allocation must be increased keeping in mind the largest group in the population. More allocation has to be distributed among the poor people and income tax should be increased without increasing VAT, he said.

"Dr Barkat has mentioned in his book what will be the economic, social and political basis of a country. He has also made specific proposals on how the budget of about Tk 17 lakh crore will be implemented and where the government's money will come from," he said.

The webinar was moderated by BEA Executive Member Nesar Ahmed.