Bangladesh slashes military budget slightly

The finance minister has proposed a slight cut in defence budget for the next fiscal compared with the current one.

Abul Maal Abdul Muhith in his 2015-2016 budget speech on Thursday said to enhance their capacity and effectiveness, the government took “extensive” measures to provide training and other facilities for the armed forces.

He proposed 6.2 percent for defence for the next fiscal in the Tk 2.95 trillion outlay. 

The allocation was 6.6 percent in the 2014-2015 budget.

The government does not divulge details of the defence budget traditionally, but the sector enjoys more budget than many sectors including health.

This year health sector will get only 4.3 percent of the total outlay.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, however, recently said poverty could be totally eliminated if all the countries cut down their defence expenditure.

The finance minister in his budget, styled “Bangladesh marches towards prosperity paving the way for higher growth”, said a draft ‘National Defence Policy’ had already been formulated and would be finalised soon.

He said the government had also taken measures to procure modern arms and ammunition and hi-tech weapons for the army, navy, air force and BGB.

“Due to our success in modernising the armed forces, Bangladesh now tops the list of countries sending troops to the UN peacekeeping missions,” he said.