Vaccination challenge to budget implementation
A lack of funds is not the problem when it comes to implementing the proposed budget, but rather ensuring vaccination of the population, which can bring back business confidence, said Atiur Rahman, chairman of Unnayan Shamannay, yesterday.
"We should worry less about growth rate, deficit finance and so on, rather, we should give priority on how to vaccinate 60-70 per cent of the population in the quickest possible time," he said.
He was addressing a virtual press briefing organised by the non-governmental research organisation on the proposed national budget for fiscal 2021-22.
The government should have increased the health sector's allocation given the ongoing situation of the coronavirus pandemic, he said.
For the upcoming fiscal year, some Tk 33,000 crore has been allocated, which is 5.4 per cent of the overall budget.
But the government should have allocated at least 7 per cent fund of the proposed budget to tackle the Covid-19, Rahman said while presenting a keynote paper titled "How is the Budget for 2021-2022".
People will be relieved once vaccinated and business confidence will get a boost, he said, adding that this in turn would ensure success of the campaign of economic and social recovery.
Given the pandemic-induced economic slowdown, the revenue collection target for the National Board of Revenue (NBR) has been revised downwards for the ongoing fiscal year, Rahman said.
The target is Tk 330,000 crore, the same as that of last fiscal.
He opined that attaining the target would be very challenging for the NBR and they must show utmost efficiency.
The proposed tax on mobile financial service (MFS) providers is not acceptable as it may have an adverse impact on the growing sector, said Rahman, also a former governor of the central bank.
Many poor people are highly dependent on the MFS providers to settle their transactions of small amounts, he said.
As per the proposed budget, the corporate tax levied on listed MFS providers may soar by 5 percentage points.
If the MFS provider is not listed, a 7.5 per cent increase in corporate tax has been suggested.
If the tax is imposed, the MFS providers may levy an additional charge on clients to adjust the cost, Rahman said.
The government agencies dedicatedly implementing social safety net programmes should strengthen their capacities to materialise the schemes efficiently, he said.
The government has allocated Tk 107,610 crore for the social protection schemes for the upcoming fiscal year, which is up 12 per cent but lower than the average 17 per cent growth of allocation between fiscals 2009-10 and 2021-22.
There is no list for the poor and the government should prepare a list of the urban ones immediately such that they can be brought under the social protection scheme, Rahman said.
AK Enamul Haque, an emeritus fellow of the organisation, said the social safety nets conventionally targeted those living below the poverty line.
Considering the current situation, safety nets are required for those living just above the poverty line, he said.
A universal pension scheme could be a good way to do so, he said.
Khondoker Shakhawat Ali, another emeritus fellow, said the budget proposal should have presented a clear timeframe for vaccinating the population.
The government should aim to vaccinate 70-80 per cent of the population within the coming fiscal year, he said.
To do so, the government should initially prioritise importing vaccines and then move to producing those, Ali said.
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