Dhaka,(Barta24.com): After long eleven years gap the world’s biggest lender World Bank(WB)is providing financial support to the tune of Taka 1250 crore in the upcoming national budget of the country. On Wednesday(April24)a meeting of the coordination council of financial and currency exchange rate related will be held in the Finance Ministry. The final announcement will be made there after the meeting.
It is learnt the implementation of the budget remains unfulfilled due to deficit in the budget every year. The difference between income and expenditure of the government is increasing regularly. It has created an uneasiness among the budget related people. In this uneasy situation the World Bank(WB) has made the announcement to give the loan of Taka 1250 crore in the budget which will be used in creating employment opportunities.
It is also learnt that in the above mentioned meeting the outlines of the next budget will be finalized. The size of the budget might be Taka 4 lakh 64 thousand 570 crore while the income against this huge expenditure has been estimated at Taka 3 lakh 39 thousand 280 crore which is 13.4% of the GDP.
However the NBR is far lagging behind of income. In the first eight months of the current fiscal NBR has earned revenue of Taka one lakh 33 thousand 460 crore.
On the other hand the total of national growth and inflation is negative of NBR’s actual growth which might create serious impact on the budget. This will increase the deficit alarmingly. Though the growth in export is 13 percent and manpower export is 12.57 percent will give slight respite.
The Finance Ministry said that NBR is likely to submit a report regarding revenue income on whose basis the problem might be solved. At the end of the current fiscal year if the revenue income does not improve the deficit will increase. So in today’s meeting the revenue situation will get importance.
According to the information received from Bangladesh Bank that balance of payment of the first nine months of 20181-19 fiscal is negative amounting to 0.50 billion US dollars which was 0.98 billion USD in 2017-18 fiscal. After such negative situation Finance Minister AHM Mostofa Kamal will disclose some good news, it is expected. The good news is that the biggest lender World Bank will provide budget support to the tune of 250 million USD equivalent to Taka 1250 crore. In three years the WB will give 750 USD. However the lending agency has given some conditions as creating employment opportunities, the advancement of Customs Act, to introduce one stop service in the Investment Board, reforms in the bond acceptance by the business men, reforms in the pension system and amendment of the Labor Law.
According to observers this support of the WB will also create positive impact in the reserve along with budget implementation. The loan is being given with the interest rate of 2 percent. The loan has to be repaid within 30 years including a grace period of 5 years.