Bangladesh Parliament passes Tk 3.4 trillion budget for 2016-17 fiscal

The budget for the financial year 2016-17 has been pushed through Parliament following a 58-hour discussion.

Thursday's session started at 1:30pm and was chaired by speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury.

The Tk 3.4 trillion budget was passed by a voice vote.

The budget comes into force from Friday.

A sum of Tk 2.42 trillion has been earmarked for large investments. Finance Minister AMA Muhith expects to garner Tk 55.16 billion in foreign aid.

The budget runs a deficit of Tk 978.53 billion.

The bulk of the revenue share is expected to be generated from taxes.

The NBR is supposed to supply about Tk 2.03 trillion. VAT is projected to fund Tk 727.64 billion, the highest amount from tax sources and marks a 35 percent rise since the last fiscal.

Specification Bill

A Tk 46.4 billion Specification Bill was also passed through a voice vote.

The bill will foot the salary expenses of High Court judges, the comproller and auditor general and treasury bills.

 

Approval demanded, cut suggested

To a treasury bench demand for approval to some additional departments, the Opposition suggested a downsizing of existing departments.

Iftar

The finance ministry later threw an Iftar, followed by a dinner.

Muhith presents Tk 3.41 trillion Bangladesh budget for 2016-17 fiscal year