It's to loot money

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia termed the proposed budget for 2017-18 fiscal year a “bogus budget”, while the ruling Awami League brought out processions across the country yesterday to hail it.

Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad said the proposed budget was not pro-people.

“It is a bogus budget. It is the budget for looting money,” Khaleda said in an iftar party organised by Supreme Court lawyers on the court premises yesterday.

The former prime minister also said, "The finance minister did not prepare the budget; rather it was prepared based on the directives of Sheikh Hasina."

BNP standing committee member Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury said this budget basically was an attack on the purchasing power of the middle and lower income groups. Proposal of 15 percent flat VAT would adversely affect the business community too. “Imposing excise duty on Bank deposits is like a penalty on them."

"It is because the real economy is not functioning so they are putting the burden of tax on the shoulders of common people,” he told The Daily Star. Talking to this newspaper, AL Joint General Secretary Mahbubul Alam Hanif said the proposed budget was a pro-people one.

"The proposed budget is for continuing the ongoing development of Awami League government led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. It is also for making the country a middle income one by 2021 and a developed one by 2041," he added.

After the budget speech, leaders and activists of AL and its front and associate bodies brought out processions across the country to praise the budget.

In the capital, they brought out a procession from its headquarters on Bangabandhu Avenue and ended it at the same venue after parading different city streets.

Emerging from parliament, Ershad said, "We are waiting to see how much of the budget the government can implement. Due to VAT, prices of daily essentials have already increased."

Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB) in an immediate reaction said the proposed budget was the “best budget to kill poor people".

In a press release, CPB President Mujahidul Islam Selim and General Secretary Shah Alam rejected the proposed budget, saying it would protect the rich and interest of looters.

The party also turned down the finance minister's claim that the proposed budget was the best one.

In a joint statement, the CPB and the Bangladesher Samajtantrik Dal (BSD) yesterday announced that they would stage demonstrations across the country on June 5, demanding “withdrawal” of the proposed budget and protesting the price hike of gas.

In the capital, the protest programme will be held in front of the Jatiya Press Club.