BNP on Thursday described the proposed national budget for 2021-22 FY as anti-poor one and said people’s debt burden will get heavier if it is implemented.
The party also thinks the ruling party leaders and their relatives, not the marginalised poor people, will benefit from the new budget.
“In the 50 years of independence, Awami League government has given the country a budget with a deficit of more than one-third. To fill this gap, the government will take loans from domestic and foreign sources. This is how the government is imposing an additional burden of debt on people,” said BNP standing committee member Dr Abdul Moyeen Khan.
In an instant written reaction to the budget, he said the budget has been formulated with a 35.56 percent deficit which will be filled through taking loans from foreign or domestic sources.
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Dr Moyeen said their party tried in the past to take the country out of foreign-debt dependence. “On the other hand, the Awami League is repeatedly making the country's economy dependent on foreign loans due to their chaotic mega projects and mega corruption.”
He said every child in the country is getting into debt before birth due to formulation of such budgets repeatedly by the Awami League government.
“This year’s proposed budget has manifested that the government is imposing the burden of debt on the common people,” the BNP leader observed.
Another BNP standing committee member Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury said the proposed budget is formulated without considering the interests and plights of marginal poor people in the country.
“The extreme poor, day-labourers and those who work in the informal sector, including rickshaw-pullers, those who push carts, those who sell food and beverage and tea sellers, have been badly affected by coronavirus. But there’s no incentive or cash transfer measures for them in the budget,” he said.
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Talking to reporters at his Banani residence, the BNP leader also said the budget has been formulated to appease the ruling party leaders and their relatives. “This budget will help make their bank balances bigger.”
He thinks the budgetary allocation for the health and education sectors are not enough at a time of a pandemic.
Khosru said it is now imperative to protect people’s lives and livelihoods instead of spending money on mega projects.
He said there should be an outline in the budget about how to protect the 5-6 crore people involved in the informal sector. “We must protect those who have lost jobs and are affected financially. Our party has earlier suggested allocating 7/8 percent of the GDP for giving them incentives. But we’ve seen that only 1/2 percent of GDP has been kept for them.”