Budget should aim at changing lives

The national budget should reflect expectations of the common people since only figures of growth and development will not bring any real change in their lives, observed noted economists yesterday.

It is more urgent to ensure the citizens' welfare rather than emphasising on the increase of some development indexes in the budget which is still being prepared without views or participation of the majority of people, they added.

The economists made these remarks at a programme titled “Budget and the Bangladesh Economy: A Capacity-Building Workshop for Young Reporters on Budget-Reporting,” held in Mozaffar Ahmed Chowdhury Auditorium of Social Science Faculty building in Dhaka University.

Power and Participation Research Centre (PPRC) and Dhaka University Economics Department Alumni Association (DUEDAA) jointly organised the programme.

“The announcement of growth indexes is not enough. It must be reflected in the components--services, agricultures, industries and above all it is urgent to create employment opportunities,” observed Hossain Zillur Rahman, former adviser to a caretaker government.

Salehuddin Ahmed, a former governor of Bangladesh Bank, said budget allocation should be based on sectors' performance.

The former governor also disagreed with the national growth rate of 7.05 and inflation rate of 5 percent.

Mohammad Zahid Hossain, former principal economist of the ADB in Bangladesh, said the taxation policy should be based on benefits of the majority.

Jalal Ahmed, additional secretary of finance ministry, the keynote presenter, said it will be difficult to fulfill the target of becoming a middle-income nation by 2021 if the investments cannot be increased.

Prof MA Taslim, a teacher at DU Economics Department, and Prof Farid Uddin Ahmed, president of DUEDAA, were also present.