Security and financial experts at a seminar today emphasized that budgetary allocations for the country's defense and agricultural sectors must be increased substantially to ensure national sovereignty and long-term economic resilience.
They expressed deep concern that despite an overall 17 to 18 percent increase in the proposed national budget, the core farming sector saw an increase of only 6 percent, which they termed highly insufficient for the country’s food security.
The remarks were made during a seminar organized by the Organization for International Relations and Development (OIRD). The session was presided over by OIRD Chairman and Vice-Chancellor of Manarat International University, Professor Dr. Mohammad Abdur Rob.
Speaking at the event as a key discussant, security analyst Dr. Md. Mizanur Rahman criticized the country's current foreign policy and defense framework, describing them as structurally weak.
He strongly urged the government to significantly expand its military and defensive capabilities to navigate escalating regional and global geopolitical shifts.
Turning to the farming economy, Dr. Rahman alleged that a major portion of the Tk 17,000 to Tk 18,000 crore subsidy allocated for the agricultural sector is routinely siphoned off by middlemen.
"The ordinary grassroots farmers receive only a negligible fraction of the state subsidy. A radical structural overhaul is needed to ensure that state assistance directly reaches the actual producers," he pointed out.
Presenting the keynote paper at the seminar, prominent economist and Associate Professor of the Bangladesh Institute of Governance and Management (BIGM), Dr. Zubayer Ahmed, raised serious questions regarding the feasibility of the fiscal milestones set in the proposed budget.
Dr. Ahmed argued that the targets are heavily detached from the country's real macroeconomic ground realities. "While the country's actual GDP growth rate currently stands at 4.14 percent, the government has set an overly ambitious GDP growth target of 6.5 percent for the upcoming fiscal year," he stated.
The economist further noted that the revenue collection target for the National Board of Revenue (NBR) has been elevated by nearly 47 percent compared to the previous year. He cautioned that the historic gap between target setting and actual revenue realization has been steadily widening every year due to limited structural enforcement capacity.
Other speakers at the seminar urged the government to review the allocations for both defense equipment modernization and grassroots agricultural development before passing the Finance Bill in Parliament, describing them as the twin pillars of national security and survival.