Budget session to begin on Jun 3, brief run scheduled amid pandemic

Parliament will go into session for the presentation of the national budget for the 2021-22 fiscal year on Jun 3.

A pre-budget session will be held at 5pm on Jun 2 before Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal presents the budget proposal the following day.

President Md Abdul Hamid called for the budget session on May 3.

Budget sessions are usually long, but due to the pandemic crisis, this year’s session will be shorter like last year.

Officials at the Parliament Secretariat said strict health rules will be in place for this year’s session as well. So, discussions on the supplementary budget and the proposed budget will have to be shortened.

The session could be held over 13-14 working days.

The opening day of the session will begin with a condolence motion of late members of the parliament Abdul Matin Khasru and Aslamul Haque. The session will be adjourned later.

The following day, the session may sit at 3pm where the finance minister will present the budget proposal. The next sitting may be scheduled a couple of days later.

Budget for the upcoming financial year requires to be approved within Jun 30 every year.

The Cabinet Division will convene for a special meeting the day before budget sessions begins as it does every year.

The budget for 2021-22 fiscal will be Finance Minister Kamal’s third and the Awami League’s 13th in their third straight term.

“The members of the parliament will join the sessions after undergoing coronavirus tests. There may be a few days’ break midway through the sessions. The finance minister is supposed to present the budget on Jun 3,” Parliament Whip Iqbalur Rahim told bdnews24.com.

On how long the sessions may run, he said, “The president will take the final decision on that. I think it may go on for 13-14 days.”

Last year’s budget session began on Jun 10. Kamal proposed a Tk 5.68 trillion for the year 2020-21 in the nine-day session, the shortest in Bangladesh’s history.

The sum, which was 13.24 percent more than the preceding year, was approved on Jun 30.

The number of Parliament Secretariat staff will be at a minimum during the session like last year, while media workers will be barred. Journalists will be able to enter the parliament area during the presentation to take budget-related documents.