It’s a budget of bankruptcy, says Jatiya Oikyafront

The Jatiya Oikyafront in a statement today came down heavily on the government for placing a "debt-dependent" national budget for the 2020-21 fiscal and termed it a budget of bankruptcy.

The government placed a Tk 568,000 crore national budget for the 2020-21 fiscal, with Tk 571,000 crore to be borrowed, meaning debt size was bigger than total allocation of the budget, the Oikyafront said in its formal reaction on the proposed national budget.

"It is the government's budget of bankruptcy and we have not seen such a bad economic situation in 50 years of Bangladesh's history," the statement read.

The statement was jointly made by top leaders of the Oikyafront including Gonoforum President Dr Kamal Hossain, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal President ASM Abdur Rab, BNP Standing Committee Member Abdul Moeen Khan and Nagorik Oikya convener Mahmudur Rahman Manna.

The Oikyafront leaders said the government should have placed the national budget considering the lives and livelihoods of the people.

They said Tk 10,000 crore was allocated in the budget to combat the Covid-19 pandemic, but "the countrymen expected Tk one lakh thousand crore instead."

"We could agree with the finance minister on many issues if he had placed the budget with an aim of ensuring overall welfare of the common people but he did not do it," they said in the statement.