JS passes Tk7,97,000cr budget for FY25

The Jatiya Sangsad (JS) today (June 30) passed the Tk 7,97,000 crore national budget for FY 2024-25 setting the goal of economic growth at 6.75 percent and keeping annual inflation at around 6.50 per cent.

Finance Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali moved the Appropriations Bill 2024, seeking a budgetary allocation of Tk 12,41,752 crore which was passed by voice votes.

The new budget will come into effect from tomorrow, Monday.

Earlier yesterday, the parliament passed the Finance Bill, 2024 with some minor changes. Following the proposal mooted in the House by the Finance Ministry for the parliamentary approval of the appropriation of funds for meeting necessary development and non-development expenditures of the government, the ministers concerned placed justifications for the expenditure by their respective ministries through 59 demands for grants.

Earlier, the Jatiya Sangsad rejected, by voice votes, a total of 251 cut-motions that stood in the name of opposition members on 59 demands for grants for different ministries.

On June 6, Finance Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali placed the Tk7,97,000 crore budget for FY25 in the House.

The budget size (Tk 7,97,000 crore) for FY25 is 4.60 percent or around Tk 35,215 crore higher than the budget of the outgoing fiscal FY24. The country’s GDP size has been estimated at Tk 55,97,414 crore.

The government, however, has reduced its expenditure by Tk 47,367 crore in the revised budget for the outgoing fiscal 2023-24, bringing it down to Tk 714,418 crore.

In the budget for FY24, total government expenditure was estimated at Tk 7,61,785 crore.

Apart from already approved Annual Development Programme (ADP) outlay of Tk 2,65,000 crore, the new budget saw an estimated deficit of Tk 2,56,000 crore excluding grants.

If the grants are considered, then the overall budget deficit stands at Tk 2,51,600 crore.

In the budget, a total allocation of Tk 2,06,569 crore has been earmarked for the social infrastructure, which constitutes 25.92 percent of the total allocation. For physical infrastructure, an allocation of Tk 2,16,111 crore has been made, which constitutes 27.12 percent of the total allocation.

For common service sector, an allocation of Tk 1,68,701 crore has been made, which comprises 21.17 percent of the total allocation. It is worthy of note that since 2022, the interest rate has been gradually increased with the aim of controlling inflation in the western world.