Cabinet approves Muhith's budget for 2016-17

The Cabinet has approved the Tk 3.41 trillion national budget for 2016-17 financial year.

Finance Minister AMA Muhith placed the budget for the Cabinet's approval on Thursday.

The cabinet cleared it in a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at the Parliament after which, President Md Abdul Hamid signed it at his office in the House.

With a massive revenue target of Tk 2.5 trillion, the finance minister is vying to surpass past records.

Muhith has maximised the revenue and expenditure targets in his proposed budget to work towards a Tk 5 trillion budget in 2018-19.

He has had to scale down the National Board of Revenue’s goal by Tk 260 billion but that has not discouraged him from fixing a modest target in the budget he proposes.

Instead, like in the current one, the budget is about to unveil a massive expenditure plan based on highly optimistic projections of revenue collections.

Muhith has said his current budget is with an eye on future, especially because he plans social security for all by 2021.