Finance minister places Tk 7,97,000 crore budget in parliament

Finance Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali placed Tk 7,97,000 crore national budget for 2024-25 in parliament.

The minister started unveiling his as well as the new government's first budget at 3:00pm.

This is the 54th budget of the country.

The FY25 budget is 4.6 percent bigger than the current one, much lower than the year-on-year average spike of 11 percent seen in the last five years. The current fiscal year's budget was 12.35 percent larger than the previous year's.

The economic growth target was set at more than 7 percent in the current fiscal year, and the target for FY25 is likely to be 6.75 percent.

The government has also set an ambitious inflation target of 6.5 percent although it averaged more than 9 percent in the past two years owing to largely ineffective steps on the part of the central bank and the government.

In the upcoming budget, the finance minister is likely to contain the budget deficit to 4.6 percent of GDP, a level last seen a decade ago. The deficit is likely to be Tk 2,56,000 crore.

It is likely to set a collection goal of Tk 5,41,000 crore in FY25, an 8.2 percent increase from the previous year. The National Board of Revenue may be given a task to raise Tk 4,80,000 crore.