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Published : 27 Jun 2026, 11:26 AM
Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB) has hosted a seminar on the national budget, focusing on resource mobilisation, prioritisation and implementation challenges.
The Department of Economics under the School of Business and Entrepreneurship organised the seminar, titled “Budget Talk 2026-27”, at the IUB Auditorium on Thursday, the university said in a media statement.
Salehuddin Ahmed, former finance advisor to Bangladesh’s interim government delivered the keynote address themed “Resource Mobilisation: Prioritisation and Implementation”.
In his speech, Salehuddin said the political government has the mandate to propose a big budget to fulfil promises made to the people, and an expansionary budget with a deficit of 3.6 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was not a bad one.
The former Bangladesh Bank governor said resource mobilisation remained one of the biggest challenges in the budget, with the National Board of Revenue (NBR) given an ambitious target of Tk 7 trillion.
Given the agency’s capacity, tax structure and mandate, he said, increasing tax collection within one year would be “very difficult”.
Salehuddin said the government’s first priority should be strengthening implementation and monitoring capacity.
“I have seen the budget -- allocation wise it’s okay. They have given special emphasis on the social sectors like education, health and social security.”
“However, it’s important to remember that giving money always doesn’t ensure spending -- so allocation is not enough, you also must ensure capacity and be able to monitor the allocation,” he added.
The speech was followed by a panel discussion featuring Ijaz Hossain, energy and sustainable development expert and retired professor of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), Md Fardous Alom, joint secretary at the Ministry of Finance, and Shamsuddin Ahmad, former senior financial sector specialist at the World Bank.
The discussion was moderated by Shahriar Kabir, professor of economics at IUB.
A question-answer session followed, where the panellists responded to queries from the audience on employment, taxation, revenue and the power sector, among other issues.
The event opened with speeches by Didar A Husain, chairman of the IUB Board of Trustees, and Prof Dr Daniel W Lund, acting vice-chancellor of IUB.
Prof Dr Raisul Awal Mahmood, acting dean of the School of Business and Entrepreneurship, introduced the panellists.
Khaled Saifullah, head of the Department of Economics, delivered the closing remarks.
The event was anchored by Nabila Maruf, senior lecturer of economics at IUB.
The Independent Economic Society (IES), an active student club at the university, collaborated with the Department of Economics in organising the seminar.
