Budget briefcase: a bag's two-century journey

Finance Minister Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury will present the budget for the 2026-27 fiscal year in the National Parliament on Thursday. The briefcase in his hand will be in the center of all the lights that day. Does the budget worth lakhs of crores of taka really reside in that bag? No, it doesn't. It contains draft speeches, tax and duty proposals, and economic guidance documents. But this bag is not just a bag — it has a history of almost two centuries.

The word 'budget' also has its roots in a bag. This word, which comes from the old French word 'Bougette', means a small leather bag. Once upon a time, government income and expenditure accounts were brought to the legislature in such bags. The name of the bag gradually became the name of the state's annual financial plan.

The concept of the modern briefcase took shape in 1860. The then British Chancellor of the Exchequer William Gladstone used a special red box with a gold emblem to carry budget documents. That ‘red box’ became the symbol of British budgets for the next century and a half and spread to the subcontinent through colonial rule.

The first modern budget in the subcontinent was presented in 1860 in Kolkata, by British economist James Wilson. The first budget in independent Bangladesh was presented on June 30, 1972, by Finance Minister Tajuddin Ahmad—he also had that briefcase in his hand.

The briefcase is not only symbolic, but also functionally important. If budget information is leaked early, it can create instability in the market, abnormal trading in the stock market, and opportunities for stockpiling. In 1947, British Chancellor of the Exchequer Hugh Dalton revealed tax-related information to journalists before entering Parliament—it was not possible to present the budget before that information was published in the newspapers, and he eventually had to resign.

The appearance of the briefcase has changed over time. In Bangladesh, former Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith used a maroon and black briefcase. In India, Nirmala Sitharaman used a traditional red cloth-wrapped ‘booklet’ instead of a briefcase, and in 2021, she presented the budget in hand using a tablet computer.

However, the symbol still lives on. Although the entire budget-making process is now digital, millions of people still look at the briefcase in the hands of the Finance Minister on the way to Parliament. There is no cash inside, but there are plans worth thousands of crores of taka related to their lives and livelihoods.