Eight major challenges in the 2022-23 budget

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal is going to present the 52nd budget of the country which has been prepared with emphasis on coronavirus crisis. However, before the Corona epidemic could end, the effects of the Russia-Ukraine war began to spread worldwide. Extreme instability is prevailing especially in the food market. The budget for the next 2022-23 fiscal year will be presented at such a time.

Finance officials say the Russia-Ukraine war poses a daunting challenge to the new world after the Corona epidemic. As a result, the prices of all kinds of commodities including fuel are increasing by leaps and bounds all over the world. It has increased unbearably in Bangladesh. The production system is being disrupted. As the dollar market becomes volatile, so does the import-export sector. In such a hostile time, the government is facing many challenges, which is hampering the development activities. Therefore, many positive initiatives have been taken in the new budget for the stability of the macro-economy. The Finance Minister also highlighted the eight main challenges in this regard.

The challenges are- (1) controlling import inflation; (Ii) funding for increased subsidies for oil, gas and fertilizer inflation; (3) job creation by continuing private investment; (4) to keep the amount of foreign exchange reserves stable by keeping imports at a tolerable level; (5) to keep the interest rate of bank loan at current level; (6) increasing the amount of revenue and reducing the budget deficit; (7) delaying the implementation of less important projects and (8) increasing the scope of social security activities.

To address these challenges, allocations have been increased in the respective sectors. Besides, strategies have been taken to reduce imports by increasing production. Not only that, in order to discourage the import of luxury goods, the margins of these products have been increased at the import stage. Yet the dollar market cannot be controlled. The price of dollar is increasing almost every day.

The finance minister is announcing a budget of Tk 6 lakh 78 thousand 64 crore for the next 2022-23 financial year. In this year's budget, the GDP growth target has been set at 7.5 percent. It is being planned to keep the inflation rate at 5.6 percent. At the same time, the allocation for subsidies is increasing in this year's budget. However, for the first time, the budget deficit could exceed 6 percent.