Govt may announce revised budget ahead of February polls

The government may announce a revised budget for the current 2025-26 fiscal year on February 1, ahead of the general election scheduled for February 12.

Usually, the new budget for the next fiscal year and the revised budget for the outgoing fiscal year are announced in June.

However, since the schedule for the upcoming elections has been set for February, the finance ministry is considering finalising the revised budget earlier.

A decision on this matter may be taken on December 22 at a meeting expected to be attended by Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus.

Finance Adviser Salehuddin Ahmed told The Daily Star last week that work on the revised budget was ongoing, and there is also a plan to implement the revised outlay from February.

Officials at the ministry said the budget for the current fiscal year may be reduced by Tk 2,000 crore to Tk 7,88,000 crore.

However, the size of the annual development programme is likely to be cut by Tk 30,000 crore to Tk 200,000 crore, while the revenue budget may be increased by Tk 28,000 crore.

The government may cut Bangladesh's economic growth target to 5 percent for the current fiscal year due to a slowdown in export growth.

The International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the Asian Development Bank have projected Bangladesh's economic growth for the current fiscal year at between 4 and 5 percent.