Prime minister asks people to help her government to implement new budget

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has sought cooperation from the people to implement the proposed budget for the 2015-16 financial year.

Speaking on the budget in Parliament on Monday, she said the five percent budget deficit was not a big problem.
 
“The budget we proposed has a five percent deficit. It’s not a big deal,” she said.
 
“There is nothing to worry about it. We can implement it,” she said.
 
Finance Minister AMA Muhith on June 4 presented the budget proposal of nearly Tk 3 trillion with a deficit of Tk 866.57 billion.
 
During his budget speech, Muhith had said the projected deficit amounted to 5 percent of the GDP.

The head of the government labelled the proposed budget as ‘pro-people’ and said Bangladesh would achieve progress because of it.
 
She also spoke on the capital market.
 
“There was a problem with the capital market. We have taken several steps to solve it. Many are not in the country, have gone into hiding.”
 
She shared the government’s initiatives to restore stock market stability.
 

She said there were people who occasionally tried to play foul. “We take immediate action because we are aware.”
 
She said the government had banned unlicensed multilevel marketing businesses.
 
The prime minister greeted all Bangladeshis including expatriates on Ramadan at the beginning of her hour-long speech.
 
She congratulated Muhith for presenting the seventh budget in a row.
 
“His thoughtful budget is taking Bangladesh ahead in every sector.”
 
She said the country had advanced 14 steps to secure the 44th position in the world economic indicator and reached the 33rd place in purchasing power parity by advancing three steps.
 
“Bangladesh is no more impoverished,” she said.
 
Answering to the Opposition Leader Raushon Ershad’s statement on food import, she said, “(The farmers) are becoming pro-production since we are providing them with every support.”
 
She shared the government’s initiatives to strengthen the rural economy and said the rich-poor gap was reducing. 
 
Hasina said illegal migration was an old trend. 
 
The previous Awami League governments had worked to make many illegal migrants legal in Saudi Arabia and Malaysia.
 
Sharing the government’s public awareness programmes against illegal migration, she said, “Even then, a few people have been living in the sea in the name of going abroad. This is very distressing.”
 
On the traffic snarls in Dhaka, she said, “Once, a family had one car; now, it owns three. Drivers drive the cars (empty).”
 
She admitted an unusual situation persisted in various educational institutions but refuted allegations of session jam in any.

“Crisis is there in a few institutions. We are taking action. But there is no session jam in any institution,” she said.