Muhith’s 7th budget in a row

Finance Minister AMA Muhith will place the country’s 44th budget in the Jatiya Sangsad at 3:00pm on Thursday, the size of which is Tk 295,272 crore.

With this, the number of national budgets presented by Muhith stands at seven, which is first for any Bangladeshi finance minister.

The finance ministry in a statement said, “By presenting budget seven times in a row, Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith is going to set a rare example.”

However, earlier during HM Ershad’s regime Muhith presented two budgets. As a result, with this Muhith will present his ninth budget which is the second highest regarding placing budget.

Former finance minister M Saifur Rahman presented highest number of 12 budgets in the history of Bangladesh.

If Muhith continues for the rest of the present tenure of the government, he will touch the earlier record.

Muhith not only set a record by placing budgets for seven times in a row, he has also presented the biggest budget in size.

Muhith first presented budget in FY1982-83 during Ershad regime and it was of Tk 4,738 crore and the first budget in the Awami League led government’s third tenure presented by Muhith in FY2009-10 was of Tk 113,815 crore.

In six years the size of the budget increased three times and Muhith is going to present next budget worth around Tk 300,000 crore.

The size of the first budget of Bangladesh was Tk 786 crore which was presented by Tajuddin Ahmed in FY1972-73.

Pressure of the traditional expenditure is putting the finance minister in a difficult situation.  This includes enhanced salary of around 13 lakh government officials and employees, expenditure on interest payments and subsidies. A big portion of non-development budget will be eaten up by these three heads.

The budget, India’s Narendra Modi government presented recently announced a package programme to increase investment. But, the next Bangladesh budget will not have any such programmes, sources said.

However, the budget will have some small allocations which are expected to boost the poor people and productive sectors.

A document titled “Budget Thoughts on Children” will also be placed in the parliament.

A finance ministry official said the document will give a detailed description about “which ministry does what” for the children.

The official also said in the next budget necessary allocations will be increased to speed up completion of some big projects taken up by the present government.

Like the current FY, the next budget also projects high revenue earning targets. However, there will remain uncertainty about whether these will be implemented finally.

Budget from FY1972-73 to FY2014-15

Fiscal Year      Who placed                            Total Size        ADP (in crore Tk)

1972-73           Tajuddin Ahmed                    Tk 786             Tk 501
1973-74           Tajuddin Ahmed                    Tk 995             Tk 525
1974-75           Tajuddin Ahmed                    Tk 1,084          Tk 525
1975-76           Dr Azizur Rahman                Tk 1,549          Tk 950
1976-77           Maj Gen Ziaur Rahman         Tk 1,989          Tk 1,222
1977-78           Lt Gen Ziaur Rahman           Tk 2,184          Tk 1,278
1978-79           President Ziaur Rahman       Tk 2,499          Tk 1,446
1979-80           Dr MN Huda                         Tk 3,317          Tk 2,123
1980-81           M Saifur Rahman                   Tk 4,108          Tk 2,700
1981-82           M Saifur Rahman                   Tk 4,677          Tk 3,015
1982-83           AMA Muhith                         Tk 4,738          Tk 2,700
1983-84           AMA Muhith                         Tk 5,896          Tk 3,483
1984-85           M Sayeduzzaman                    Tk 6,699          Tk 3,896
1985-86           M Sayeduzzaman                    Tk 7,138          Tk 3,825
1986-87           M Sayeduzzaman                    Tk 8,504          Tk 4,764
1987-88           M Sayeduzzaman                    Tk 8,527          Tk 5,046
1988-89           Maj Gen Munim                     Tk 10,565        Tk 5,315
1989-90           Dr Wahidul Haq                    Tk 12,703        Tk 5,803
1990-91           Maj Gen (Retd)  Munim        Tk 12,960        Tk 5,668
1991-92           M Saifur Rahman                   Tk 15,584        Tk 7,500
1992-93           M Saifur Rahman                   Tk 17,607        Tk 9,057
1993-94           M Saifur Rahman                   Tk 19,050        Tk 9,750
1994-95           M Saifur Rahman                   Tk 20,948        Tk 11,000
1995-96           M Saifur Rahman                   Tk 23,170        Tk 12,100
1996-97           SAMS Kibria                          Tk 24,603        Tk 12,500
1997-98           SAMS Kibria                          Tk 27,786        Tk 12,800
1998-99           SAMS Kibria                          Tk 29,537        Tk 13,600
1999-00           S A M S Kibria                       Tk 34,252        Tk 12,477
2000-01           S A M S Kibria                       Tk 38,524        Tk 17,500
2001-02           S A M S Kibria                       Tk 42,306        Tk 19,000
2002-03           M Saifur Rahman                   Tk 44,854        Tk 19,200
2003-04           M Saifur Rahman                   Tk 51,980        Tk 20,300
2004-05           M Saifur Rahman                   Tk 57,248        Tk 22,000
2005-06           M Saifur Rahman                   Tk 61,058        Tk 23,626
2006-07           M Saifur Rahman                   Tk 69,740        Tk 26,000
2007-08           Mirza Azizul Islam                 Tk 99,962        Tk 25,600
2008-09           Mirza Azizul Islam                 Tk 99,962        Tk 25,400
2009-10           AMA Muhith                         Tk 113,815      Tk 28,500
2010-11           AMA Muhith                         Tk 132,170      Tk 35,130
2011-12           AMA Muhith                         Tk 161,214      Tk 41,080
2012-13           AMA Muhith                         Tk 191,738      Tk 52,366
2013-14           AMA Muhith                         TK 222,491    TK 60,000

2014-15           AMA Muhith                         Tk 250,506      Tk 80,315