Bangladesh cabinet meets with the country's Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in Dhaka, Bangladesh on June 13, 2019. The Bangladeshi government has unveiled a record 5.23 trillion-taka (about 62 billion U.S. dollars) proposed national budget, targeting an economic growth of 8.2 percent for the next 2019-20 fiscal year starting in July. (Xinhua/PID)
DHAKA, June 13 (Xinhua) -- The Bangladeshi government has unveiled a record 5.23 trillion-taka (about 62 billion U.S. dollars) proposed national budget, targeting an economic growth of 8.2 percent for the next 2019-20 fiscal year starting in July.
The country's Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal on Thursday placed before the parliament the 11th annual budget of the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's ruling Bangladesh Awami League (AL) party government in a row since 2009.
In the 2019-20 fiscal year, he said, the total outlay of the proposed budget is estimated to be 5,231.90 billion taka, which is 18.1 percent of GDP, up by about 13 percent over that of the original budget of the outgoing fiscal year 2018-19 (July 2018- June 2019).
On the expenditure side, he said, the size of Annual Development Program (ADP) for the next fiscal year will be 2.02 trillion taka with human resource, power and energy and communication sectors getting the biggest chunk of money.
According to the proposal, the overall budget deficit will be 1,453.80 billion taka, which is 5 percent of GDP.
Of this amount, the minister said 680.16 billion taka will be financed from external sources and 773.63 billion taka from domestic sources.
Meanwhile, Kamal said the total estimated revenue will be 3.77 trillion taka.
"Our GDP grew consistently at a very high rate in the last decade. We expect a GDP growth of 8.13 percent in 2018-19 (July 2018-June 2019). Our commitment is to achieve a growth rate of 10 percent by 2023-24 fiscal year (July 2023-June 2024), and maintain that rate until 2041 so that we can lay a solid foundation for becoming a high income country by that time. "
To achieve this objective, he said GDP growth rate has been projected at 8.2 percent for 2019-20 fiscal year.
Regional parity, human resource development, infrastructural development and quality of expenditure have been given priority in the allocation for the annual development program, he added.
Meanwhile, the minister said they hope to keep the average annual inflation rate at 5.5 percent in the next fiscal year.
The purpose is to reduce poverty, generate employment, and attract foreign investment, he said
"Bringing the marginal people into the mainstream of development, special measures will be adopted for small and medium enterprises, and steps will be taken to reduce income inequality," said the minister.
Alongside, he said, "our goal will be to enhance the competitiveness of all our business sectors, including agriculture, industry, commerce, exports, real estate and services sectors." (1 U.S.dollar equals to about 84 taka)
