Budget lacks assurances of protection and promises of reforms: Debapriya
Photo: Collected
Debapriya Bhattacharya, convener of the Citizens Platform for SDG Implementation and Honorary Fellow at the Center for Policy Dialogue (CPD), feels that much of the proposed budget for the fiscal year 2024-25 has not gone well for the backward people because of the problem between power and the politics through which this power is exercised.
He said that everything including revenue proposals, reforms was supposed to go in favor of common people, but due to problems in power and politics, everything went in favor of special individuals and groups.
He said this at a media briefing on 'National Budget 2024-25 and Prevailing Situation: Achievement of Disadvantaged People' organized jointly by CPD and Citizen Platform on Monday (June 10).
Speaking on the occasion, Debapriya said that the proposed budget has no direction of stability, assurance of security and no promise of reforms to ensure the welfare of the backward people.
Debapriya claimed that the allocation and ideology of this budget has no similarity with the various policies formulated by the government itself, including the election promises of the current government, the eighth five-year plan, the prospective plan.
Pointing out that professionalism has decreased in budget formulation, he said, the use of data and reasoning techniques has decreased. Even all the policies and strategies mentioned in the budget are not matched with the allocation, he said.
Presenting the main article in the program, Senior Research Fellow of CPD Toufiqul Islam Khan said that the proposed budget has been reduced to a large extent indirectly. There is no action on direct tax exemptions like garments, fuel and micro credit. There is no guidance on what to do in the future.
Regarding black money laundering, he said, just as there is an opportunity to legalize undisclosed money with 15 percent cash tax, there is also an opportunity to legalize buying flats in Gulshan area with 2.38 percent tax. He also commented that this opportunity to legitimize illegal money cannot be accepted without question.
Commenting on the recovery of the economic situation in the budget, there is no better dream than this, he said, there is no direction to implement it.
Noting that the main cause of the economic crisis in the country has not been identified in the budget, he said that the Russia-Ukraine war has been left out. He also said that there was no discussion in the budget about the banking sector, good governance, market irregularities, money laundering, debt problems.
The Executive Director of Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) Dr. Iftekharuzzaman, East West University Dean of Business Education and Economics Professor AK Enamul Haque, Jahangirnagar University Economics Professor Sharmind Nilormi, Policy Exchange Bangladesh Chairman and CEO Dr. Mashroor Riaz participated in the discussion.
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has been internally tied to corruption-supporting forces, said Dr. Iftekharuzzaman. He said the majority of those in the decision-making process of the organization are fairly well-established as enablers of corruption.
Moreover, he also commented that the organization is not able to use the full operational capacity due to being controlled from outside. Commenting that it is not possible for the ACC alone to fight corruption, he said that Parliament, judicial process and law enforcement agencies are also expected to play a role in fighting corruption.
He also commented that all democratic and accountable institutions have become ineffective due to political capture.
