Speakers on Friday said that the budget for the fiscal year 2023-24 will help to build a smart, prosperous and balanced Bangladesh by combining education, research and development.

The speakers said this at a seminar on budget titled "Building a Prosperous and Balanced Budget: Budget 2023-24" at Abdus Salam Auditorium of the National Press Club in the capital around 10am.

The platform for academicians 'Education, Research and Development Forum of Bangladesh (ERDFB)' organised the seminar

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Presided over by President of ERDFB and University Grants Commission (UGC) member Prof Sazzad Hossain, BUET vice chancellor Satya Prasad Majumder was present at the event as chief guest.

Praising ERDFB for organising such a seminar, Satya Prasad Majumder said, the budget put huge emphasize on the agriculture sector. The budget will play an important role in building a smart and prosperous Bangladesh by building a smart agricultural system, he added.

"It is not enough to announce the budget, we have to make proper use of it", Majumder added.

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Former governor of Bangladesh Bank Dr Atiur Rahman said that the current budget is basically a budget to meet the challenges. The huge changes have been made in Bangladesh's economy between 2006-2023. The size of agriculture, exports and remittances increased by 4, 5 and 6 times, respectively.

The government's successful budget has reduced poverty and extreme poverty rates to 18.5 and 5.6 percent, Dr Atiur added.

"This budget is in no way ambitious but future-oriented," he opined.

In his speech, ERDFB president Prof Sazzad Hossain said the budget led by prime minister Sheikh Hasina will undoubtedly play a vital role to build Bangabandhu's Sonar Bangla and Smart Bangladesh.

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He also urged the government to reconsider the small areas of the current budget that would make it more rational.

Moderated by Prof. Dr. M. Badruzzaman Bhuiyan, general secretary of ERDFB, Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) Dr. Abdul Jabbar Khan gave the welcome speech at the event.