Parliament passes budget for 2015-16 FY

Parliament has passed the Tk 3 trillion budget for the next fiscal after almost 60 hours of discussion.

This is the second budget of the Awami League government after it took office for the second consecutive term.

This is Finance Minister AMA Muhith's seventh straight budget.

Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury adjourned the Parliament session until July 5 after the Tk 2.99 trillion budget was passed through voice vote.

The budget will be effective from the first day of FY 2015-16— July 1.

On Jun 4, the finance minister presented budget proposals for 2015-16, which was cleared  on Tuesday in presence of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Leader of the Opposition Raushon Ershad.

The budget fixed a revenue target of Tk 2.08 trillion, leaving a Tk 862.48 billion deficit.

It targeted Tk 58 billion in foreign donation.

At the beginning of the session, the Speaker threw the floor open for a discussion on seven grant proposals that Opposition and the independent lawmakers spoke on.

The major share of the deficit will be covered by income tax, customs duties and VAT.

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) will collect Tk 1.76 trillion, while the non-NBR tax is estimated at Tk 58.74 billion.

Some Tk 261.99 billion will be mopped up from other sources.

Appropriations Bill passed

Parliament also passed by voice vote the Appropriations Bill of Tk 4.15 trillion for the next fiscal year with various government liabilities except the budget expenditure.

The amount approved by the lawmakers stood at Tk 2.71 trillion while the liabilities was Tk 1.44 trillion.

Grant demands and cut motion

As many as 523 motions for cutting allocations were proposed by the Opposition and independent lawmakers, while there were 56 demands for grants to different ministries and departments.

The cut motions were against the grant demands for the public administration, bank and financial institutions division, education, health, industry, liberation affairs and the anti corruption commission.

After the discussion, all the proposals were rejected by voice vote.

Iftar and dinner

The finance ministry hosts a dinner after the budget’s passage every year.

This time, it also hosted an Iftar before the dinner at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina exchanged greetings with guests at the Iftar.

Finance Minister AMA Muhith along with his Cabinet colleagues, MPs and senior civil servants attended the Iftar.

Editors, business leaders and people from other professions also joined the Iftar and dinner.