The revenue and development budgets combined would total around Tk 60,000 crore from the current Tk 52,000 crore, finance ministry sources said.

The government has decided to spend Tk 800 crore on development projects from the revenue budget, up from the current Tk 250 crore.

To meet this growing demand, tax net would be expanded and holes plugged, Finance Minister M Saifur Rahman has recently said.

The NBR will set up a new large taxpayers' unit to deal with the large Vat payers. Besides, Vat stamps will be introduced to different sectors to check evasion.

The NBR has been asked to design a new tax structure without hurting the common people much. The zero-tax ceiling may be extended to Tk 125,000 from the present Tk 90,000.

The finance ministry has not yet planned how the planned Tk 1,000 crore agriculture subsidy, up from this year's Tk 300 crore, will be delivered directly to the farmers. The ministry is considering an agriculture ministry proposal for irrigation subsidy, which stipulates that each thana will have a committee headed by the Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO). This committee will list how many deep tubewells are functional and the ministry will provide the subsidy according to this list.

The finance and agriculture ministries will meet today to decide how imported fertiliser would be subsidised.

The government plans to expand the old-age pension scheme, widow pension scheme, stipend and scholarships.

The finance ministry is under pressure to allocate funds for dearness allowance of government employees, which would mean an extra Tk 1,000 crore. The current budget contains Tk 700 crore for dearness allowance.

Besides, the budget will announce a special savings scheme for retired government officials.

The budget is likely to propose a post-MFA linkage fund for the garments sector.