State Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Mohammad Ali Arafat, said on Wednesday that inflation control has been given the highest priority in the budget.

“Due to inflation caused by COVID-19 and the Ukraine-Russia war, hyperinflation has been created all over the world. Bangladesh is not out of it,” he said, participating in the discussion on the Budget for the 2024–25 fiscal year in Parliament.

The State Minister said the budget reflects all efforts to reduce the suffering of the common people within a year.

“A contractionary budget has been made this time.”

Terming this year's budget as a people-friendly budget, Arafat said the budget has been increased for the common people in the social security sector, education has been increased, and all kinds of measures have been kept for the common people and low-income people.

“Taxes are proposed to be higher for those who have higher incomes,” he said.

He added that the budget is made keeping in mind the lower income general population.

In response to the opposition's criticism, the State Minister said that the practice of borrowing is a common matter all over the world.

“But it has to be kept at a tolerable level. In Bangladesh, it is below 5 percent of GDP. It is an international standard.”

He said that the debt was USD 38 billion in 2008–2009, and now it is 149 billion dollars. “This is half true.”

Arafat said the GDP in 2008–09 was $110 billion. And now $420 billion.

“It should be measured not only by debt but also by asset GDP,” he said.

He said that the opposition party is saying that the defaulted loans in 2006 were Tk 20,000 crore. “Now it is Tk 182,000 crore. That's right.”

But in 2006, he said that more than 13 percent of loans were defaulted. “And now it is below 11 percent. So the defaulted loans are reduced.”