Parliament to go into budget session at 5pm

The 12th National Parliament will go into its third session at 5pm on Wednesday.

It will be the first budget session of the present stint since the Awami League government came to power through the general election on January 7 this year.

On May 20, President Mohammed Shahabuddin convened the session, exercising the power bestowed upon him as per Article 72(1) of the Constitution.

Finance Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali is expected to place the national budget for fiscal year 2024-25 (FY25) on Thursday afternoon.

This will be the first budget of the present Awami League government, which came to power for the fourth consecutive term through the January 7, 2024 national election.

The size of the proposed budget is expected to be around Tk8,00,000 crore, said a finance ministry official, adding that controlling the rising inflation is likely to get the top priority in the budget.

The budget for FY25 will be the country’s 53rd budget and the 25th of the Awami League government's six tenures after independence.

Tajuddin Ahmed presented the country’s first budget in 1971 as finance minister of the post-independence government headed by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

The size of the country's first budget was Tk7.86 billion and the ADP size was Tk5.01 billion.