<div style="text-align: justify; "><b style="font-size: 1rem;">Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal on Thursday placed the proposed national budget for FY2023-24 in Parliament with a deficit of  Tk 2,61,785 crore with a focus on making a Smart Bangladesh and annual growth target of 7.5 percent.</b><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In his 252-page budget speech, presented through audio-visual medium, the finance minister hoped to bring down the inflation rate to around 6 percent from the over existing 9 percent, a target economists described as ambitious.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Kamal, presenting his fifth budget in a row, proposed to spend Tk7,61,785 crore, while the total revenue has been estimated at Tk 5 lakh crore – of which 430,000 crore will come through National Board of Revenue and Tk 70,000 crore from other sources. The proposed size of the budget represents 15.2 percent of the GDP. He allocated Tk 4,36,247 crore to operating and other sectors, while Tk 2,63,000 crore to Annual Development Programme (ADP).</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The deficit in the proposed budget is estimated at 5.2 percent of GDP, down from 5.5 percent in the outgoing FY2022-23, the finance minister said. The deficit is proposed to be financed from domestic sources of Tk1,55,395 crore, while external sources will bring in Tk1,2490 crore.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The proposed FY2023-24 budget is also the last budget of the current Awami League government before the next general election is held in December this year or in January next year. Keeping the election in mind the finance minister proposed to raise the tax-free individual income tax to Tk3.5 lakh besides withdrawing taxes on several commodities.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He also highlighted the challenges that the government faces in the days ahead.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“Overall, our current challenge is to control inflation, improve the account balance situation and stabilise the foreign exchange rate,” he said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He also stressed the need for adopting the strategies to deal with “sustainable transition and post-transition realities from the LDCs…”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“In particular tariff rationalisation, domestic resources mobilisation to meet fiscal deficit, withdrawal of subsidy or cash assistance or exploring alternatives.. should be considered now,” he said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The ruling Awami League hailed the proposed budget as “people friendly” and a document that will help the country come back from crisis  ad global economic downturn.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The main opposition BNP denounced it as a “smart budget to plunder the public money.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Jatiya Party Chairman GM Quader termed the budget impractical and said that the government could use the public money to overcome election hurdles. UNB</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>