No surprise in budget

Opposition Chief Whip Tajul Islam Choudhury yesterday told parliament that in overall consideration, there was no surprise in the proposed budget for the 2016-17 fiscal year.

“The finance minister placed a big budget, but we see no way (guideline) to implement it,” Tajul said while participating in a general discussion on the proposed budget.

The opposition Jatiya Party MP also criticised Muhith, saying that there was no good news in the proposed budget about investment and no guideline for stopping anomalies and corruption in the banking sector and revamping the share market.

He raised questions regarding the budget financing. “The government will have to face many challenges to meet the deficit with limited resources,” the JP MP said.

Tajul demanded that allocation for the health sector be increased and more schools be provided the Monthly Pay Order facility.

Participating in the discussion, ruling Awami League MP Dipu Moni demanded that the government provide all schools the MPO facility, saying that only Tk 1,000 crore would be needed annually to meet the expenses.

Ruling party whip Shahiduzzaman Sarker suggested that the government make development expenditures higher than that for non-development to achieve the expected development of the country.

He said the allocation for development expenditures is only Tk 1,10,700 crore, which was much lower than the non-development expenditures of Tk 3,40,000 crore in the proposed budget.

Saying that there are only 12 lakh taxpayers in the country, the whip suggested widening the tax net and not increasing the burden on the existing taxpayers.

AL MP Sagufta Yasmin said the government should concentrate on investment for the rapid progress of the country.