Rejaul Karim Byron

Govt targets $13.27 billion foreign assistance in next fiscal year

Outlay to focus on economic recovery, jobs and electoral pledges amid high inflation

Finance minister inherited a ruptured economy. Now comes the harder part -- fixing it

About one-fourth of the upcoming fiscal year’s budget will go towards five ministries and divisions including health, education and defence, with a significant portion kept as block allocations to undertake projects in line with the BNP’s electoral pledges.

The government is setting aside Tk 1,45,000 crore in the next fiscal year’s programme for social safety net schemes, up 14.4 percent year-on-year, with about 9.7 percent of the sum going towards the BNP’s flagship Family Card programme.

The government will allocate Tk 1,26,125 crore for subsidies and incentives in the upcoming fiscal year’s budget, with 55 percent going towards electricity and fertiliser.

The government is planning to form a high-level committee to implement and monitor the action plans it has committed to the United Nations Committee for Development Policy (UN CDP), as part of efforts to ensure a smooth graduation from the least developed country (LDC) group.

The government expects the country’s gross foreign currency reserves to hit a record $51.4 billion by the end of next fiscal year, provided that remittance inflow is strong and interest rates high.

The government is setting a high growth target for the next fiscal year, banking on the possibility of stability returning to the Middle East by June next year and the expansionary fiscal and monetary policies being pursued.

The government is set to move away from its reliance on domestic borrowing to fund the budget deficit next fiscal year and go for foreign borrowing in a bid to free up resources for the private sector and contain inflationary pressures, according to the draft budget plan.

The Asian Development Bank will provide $5 billion to Bangladesh over the next five years to implement a special 20-year economic corridor plan that would create jobs, improve connectivity and promote more balanced regional growth.

FY26 debt servicing to cost $30.59b, says IMF

The government has decided to exit the existing $5.5 billion loan programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and move toward negotiating a new arrangement instead.

Bangladesh’s state-owned enterprises (SOEs) drained about Tk 88,200 crore from the national exchequer in a single year, emerging as one of the country’s biggest fiscal risks, according to a World Bank study.

The government is in talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) over a new three-year loan programme to replace the existing arrangement, whose terms are in conflict with the ruling BNP’s election pledges.

The government officials, pensioners, and MPO-listed teachers and staff are set to get a new pay scale from July 1 after the committee led by Cabinet Secretary Nasimul Ghani recommended the rollout of the revised pay scale.

The government has created a five-year plan that aims to turn Bangladesh into a trillion-dollar economy by 2034 and create 1 crore jobs by 2030, driven by an upsurge in investment.

The government is planning to form a capital market reform commission to bring transparency and restore investor confidence, according to officials at the Ministry of Finance.

Nineteen years ago, BNP finance minister M Saifur Rahman placed a national budget of Tk 69,740 crore for fiscal year 2006-07. Three governments have since come and gone, and BNP has now returned to power through a national election.

The country is not short of money for development projects. Instead, it is suffering from weak project planning, poor coordination and a culture that values expenditure over outcomes, according to AK Enamul Haque, director general (DG) of the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS).