Economist Dr Nazneen Ahmed said giving a chance to bring back laundered money without proper application of the country’s existing money laundering act is similar to the acknowledgment of crime. “The proposal in this year’s budget to bring back laundered money by giving 7 per cent tax to the government should be canceled. Earlier, the process of whitening black money was not effective. There is no alternative to good governance for a strong economy.  The decision to borrow money from the local banks is the right decision in the current situation,” she said. Read: Budget FY23: Kamal sees rising inflation as a major challenge Nazneen Ahmed, who has spent most of her career at the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, the state-funded thinktank, came up with the observation while addressing a shadow parliament as the chief guest on Saturday organised by Debate for Democracy in the capital’s BFDC. The Debate for Democracy chairman Hasan Ahmed Chowdhury Kiron presided over the shadow parliament. The economist said power tariff should not be increased in this post-Covid situation for one year as a hike in power, gas, and oil puts pressure on the people.   Islami University has defeated Jagannath University in the shadow parliament.   Trophies and certificates have been distributed among the participants patronized by the United Commercial Bank Limited.

Lawmakers from ruling and opposition parties on Sunday came down hard on the budgetary proposal to legalise laundered money only with 7 per cent tax. They slammed Finance Minister Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal for making the proposal in the budget of FY2022-23. Jatiya Party MP elected from Sunamganj Pir Fazlur Rahman demanded legal action against the money launderers. He said legal action should be taken against those who looted and smuggled money abroad.  Otherwise, there was no need for anti-money laundering law. Also read: Law bars asking questions about laundered money: Finance Minister “Money laundering has also increased.  The finance minister has tried to save the lives of the people in the budget that he presented during this coronation period.  On the other hand, thousands of crores of taka have been smuggled out of this country, which he could not stop.” He said that steps have been taken to give impunity for those who stole money, embezzled money and smuggled it abroad. “This is not supportable at all,” he said. Fazlur said that the finance minister should have prevented money smuggling during the transition period. But he failed there." He said that if laundered money is allowed to return to Bangladesh legally, then money laundering laws are not needed in Bangladesh.  He mentioned that people suspect that a large group of people are sitting around to smuggle money abroad and their ill motive will be successful. “This will encourage the people to earn money through illegal means,” he added. He said that if this amnesty given to the money launderers then they will become the highest taxpayers. Another Jatiya Party MP elected from Gaibandha Shameem Haider Patwary asked the finance minister to rethink the matter. He questioned about the fate of ongoing cases after passage of this amnesty. “There should be a policy this amnesty can not be availed if there is any specific allegation of money laundering,” he said. The Jatiya Party MP mentioned that such kind of amnesty was given in India that failed to bring any success. Gonoforum MP elected from Sylhet Mokabbir Khan demanded  punishment to the top 12 corrupts of the country. “By this we will be able to bring down 50 percent corruption in the country, otherwise I will resign from the Parliament,” he said. Also read: Budget FY23: Laundered money to be legalized by 7-15 pc tax He alleged that the government is taking actions against some small fries like clerk and driver. “But the authority has no courage to touch the big corrupt people who earned thousands of crores of taka staying in the big posts,” he said. Ruling Party MP elected from Cumilla Pran Gopal Dutta requested the finance minister to revise the proposal of giving amnesty to the money launderers. “There is no positive impact of this matter, those who siphoned money  abroad, if they were honest they would keep their money in the country,” he said. He mentioned that the finance minister should keep in mind that thieves never listen to religious message.

Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) has urged the government to withdraw the proposed budgetary provision of allowing launderers to legalise their undeclared money, saying such provision will discourage genuine taxpayers. It is immoral, discriminatory and conflicts with the existing laws to allow legalising laundered money from abroad without questioning, announced in the national budget for FY2022-23, the graft watchdog body said in a statement on Friday. Also read: Law bars asking questions about laundered money: Finance Minister But, according to the Money Laundering Prevention Act, 2012 and the relevant international law, money laundering is a serious crime and such provision will encourage money laundering and corruption in general, said TIB Executive Director Iftekharuzzaman. It is expected this provision will increase the foreign exchange flow and income tax revenue through the integration of money and assets earned abroad into the mainstream of the country's economy, he said. “But our past experience has shown that despite repeated opportunities to whiten black money in the country's economy, it has not yielded the expected results, nor has the government received the desired revenue.” It is impossible to bring back this laundered money or assets without a legal assistance agreement of our country with the authorities concerned in the country where the money is laundered, said Iftekharuzzaman. Besides, for those who are genuine taxpayers, the provision is blatantly discriminatory, as they pay at least three times the tax rate of 7 percent. This is discrimination and against the principles of the constitution, he added. In the proposed budget, the finance minister acknowledged the existing economic crises such as inflation, holding the value of the Taka against the dollar, increasing import costs and declining foreign exchange reserves, but could not provide effective strategies or guidelines to address them, he said. Also read: Budget FY23: Laundered money to be legalized by 7-15 pc tax The TIB executive director said although there is an expectation to expand social security programmes to reduce inflationary pressures on marginalised and low-income people, the proposed budget does not show much. “Rather, it has been shown to include government employees' pensions, interest on savings certificates, and loan waivers that were provided during Covid pandemic in order to maximize spending on the social security sector, which are not part of the Social Security programme."

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has said the government is obliged by a law that those who will bring back their laundered money home will not be questioned any more. Defending his move, announced in the national budget for FY2022-23, he said most of such money is undeclared and smuggled out due to the faulty system. He made this remark while addressing a post-budget press conference at Osmani Memorial Auditorium in the city on Friday.      Also read: Budget offers no good news for lower, middle income groups: CPD Fielding a volley of questions on the issue, he said many countries in Asia, America and Europe have declared amnesty for the money launderers.   According to a provision declared in the newly placed national budget, no authority, including the income tax collectors, shall raise any question as to the source of any asset located abroad if a taxpayer pays extra taxes on such assets. The proposed rate is 15 per cent for immovable property not repatriated to Bangladesh, 10 per cent for movable property not repatriated to Bangladesh and 7 per cent for cash and cash equivalents repatriated to Bangladesh.  This will take effect from July 1. A question was asked by a reporter that in the past the government had declared a "Truth Commission" and provided scope for legalising illegal money through paying tax, but later the names of the persons who took the opportunity were disclosed. So, how could people trust the new assurance and take the opportunity? Answering the question, Kamal said the government will use some tools so that people will be encouraged to bring the smuggled illegal money back.   "But this will not discourage or undermine those people who regularly pay taxes", he added. Supporting his view Agriculture Minister Abdur Razzak, who present on the occasion, supported the government move in this regard and said that the Truth Commission was formed during the caretaker government which was a non-constitutional government. "But Awami League is a constitutional government and the relevant law is passed by the government to give the guarantee to the people not to raise any question in future", he added. The finance minister claimed that the newly unveiled national budget will bring benefits for all the segments of the society, specially, for the poor. "I was born in a poor family and raised up from poverty. So, I do feel the pain of the poor", he said, adding that so many measures including allocation for social safety-net programmes were increased in the new budget.     

The Center for Policy Dialogue (CPD), a private think-tank, has found no good news for lower and middle-income groups in the newly announced budget, voicing doubt about government’s ability to lower the inflation rate at 5.6 per cent. Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal placed the budget for FY2022-23 expecting inflation rate to come down to 5.6 per from over 6.29 per cent (in April as per BBS). Also read: Budget to make economy stronger: Finance Minister Experts and economists believe the inflation has hit over 10 per cent. As a result, lower, middle class and fixed income groups will face challenges to run a family as the commodity prices are unlikely to come down if the inflation trend remains higher. The CPD made the observation at a press conference in a city hotel on Friday, a day after presentation of Bangladesh’s national budget of Tk6.78 trillion for the upcoming fiscal year starting from July 1. “The prices of all kinds of goods including fuel oil and food products are increasing in the international market. Commodity prices have been rising in the world market since the Covid-19 situation began to normalize,” said Dr Fahmida Khatun, executive director of CPD. She said, "The budget has not taken adequate steps to reduce the prices of essential commodities. It was necessary to reduce the prices of 29 commodities including rice and pulses, but it did not happen. The CPD had recommended a reduction in taxes to reduce the prices of commodities. But that too was not kept.

Enhancing private sector investment, employment generation, revenue shortfall and financing are some of the challenges of the proposed budget for FY2022-23. In order to attain the targeted GDP, government needs to focus on widening tax net gradually, automation of tax structure, fixing up rational target of revenue collection and consistency of government expenditure. President of Dhaka Chamber of Commerce & Industry (DCCI) Rizwan Rahman said these in his initial reaction on proposed budget for FY2022-23 on 09 June 2022 at the DCCI Building. The inconsistency between income and expenditure in the proposed budget may lead to dependency over bank borrowing or loan from foreign source. Dhaka Chamber thinks that a planned, timely, cost efficient and implementable budget is more effective than a big budget. Read: $ 80 billion planned for investment by 2030 to achieve climate resilience Since the middle and lower middle income group of the society are facing the pressure of inflation, taking it into consideration, the limit of individual income tax can be increased. However, few slabs can be created for the higher income level group but obviously in a rational manner. Listed companies offloading more than 10% of their paid-up capital to the market through IPO only can avail the opportunity of giving 20% corporate tax. And both listed and non-listed companies who have cash expenditure or investment of taka 12 lakh annually and if they do transactions through banking channel are eligible to give 20% corporate tax. If any listed company fails to comply with these two conditions, they will have to pay 25% corporate tax. Dhaka Chamber feels that the threshold or limit in these conditions are very insignificant. Moreover, corporate tax rate should be reduced to be more competitive not only in the international market but also in local market. This year from July to May our export earning was USD 47.17 billion against import expenditure of USD 68.87 billion. Read: Govt raises bus fares on 13 routes adding Padma Bridge toll Trade deficit is USD 21.7 billion. It seems that our import expenditure is higher than the export earnings. Import expenditure over export earning is not good for our international trade. "We need to promote export diversification. Equal corporate tax for RMG and non-RMG export sector will facilitate diversification process.  24.9% investment from the private sector is targeted. But for that, private sector credit flow should be increased." ADP implementation till May 2022 was 58.36% which is not satisfactory. Mega infrastructure projects should be completed at a faster pace but in a lower price ensuring transparency and accountability. Clause number 83, 84 and 100 of goods seize provision need to be reformed, Rizwan Rahman said.

The Cabinet at a special meeting on Thursday approved the proposed national budget for the fiscal year 2022-23. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina presided over the meeting held at the cabinet room of the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban. Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal and other Cabinet ministers and state ministers concerned attended the meeting. The finance minister is set to unveil the proposed national budget for the 2022-23 fiscal this afternoon, after the authentication of the budget by the President. Also read: Gender budget framework needs to be redesigned, say discussants at a pre-budget dialogue AHM Mustafa Kamal is scheduled to start unveiling his budget of 6.80 lakh crore at the Jatiya Sangsad at 3:00 pm. Also read:Russia-Ukraine war creates uncertainties: Kamal on upcoming national budget This is the country’s 51st budget and the 23rd of the Awami League government in five terms.

The Parliament opened its budget session on Sunday. The national budget for FY2022-23 will be debated and approved during this 18th session of the 11th Parliament. The session started at 5pm with Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury in the chair. Also read:JS selects 5-member panel of chairpersons Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal is slated to place the budget proposals on June 9. On May 18 last, President Abdul Hamid summoned the JS session exercising power bestowed upon him by Article 72(1) of the Constitution. The 17th session of 11th parliament was prorogued on April 6 after eight sittings.

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has said he faces the pressure of external vulnerabilities in the economy in preparing the national budget for FY2022-23. "...But only pressure is the uncertainties and external vulnerabilities due to the war (Russia-Ukraine)”, he told reporters while briefing about the outcomes of the Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase (CCGP) on Wednesday. Also read: Govt mulls amnesty to bring back laundered money: Finance Minister The National Budget for FY2022-23 is slated to be placed in Parliament on June 9. He said that after the Covid-19 pandemic when the economy was trying to recover from the shock, the Russia-Ukraine war started which created huge vulnerabilities and uncertainties globally. “Every country in the world has to face the challenges of the vulnerabilities and they are under pressure”, he said adding that these uncertainties and vulnerabilities will create opportunities as well. “We don’t war anymore. We want the war to stop immediately”, he said. Kamal said his main focus in the budget will be recovering the economy from the uncertainties and vulnerabilities. “We’ll try to bring dynamism in the economy”. Responding to a question on the CPD’s observation that the country’s financial sector is led by a weak leadership, the finance minister said Bangladesh has been the best country in the world in economic management. Also read: Finance minister directs regulators to boost investment in stock market “The way we run the economy in a crisis situation, the administrative efficiency we showed, it’s best compared with the other countries”, he claimed. He, however, refused to disclose the main thrusts of the national budget. “Just wait…You will see when the budget is placed in Parliament”. He hinted that strengthening the social safety-net programme will get a special focus in the upcoming budget.

The ministry of finance is expecting the growth of inward remittance by 16 per cent in the fiscal year FY2022-23. Bangladesh has, meanwhile, received inward remittance of USD $1654.94 million (1.65 billion) in 26 days of May. The ministry in a report said that over 5.5 lakh workers went abroad in the post Covid-19 period from the country. The trend of manpower export will continue as many countries of the Middle East and Europe are hiring more workers to meet the huge non-skill and semi-skilled manpower. Also read: BB moves to encourage greater flow of remittance to boost forex Besides, Qatar's football World Cup preparations have also created huge job demand in the service sector in the Middle East. Bangladesh Bank (BB) data shows that foreign exchange reserve is increasing thanks to growing inward remittance in the recent months despite huge import payment demand. If the remittances reach this trend the amount of inward remittance is likely to cross $2 billion in May, said Md Serajul Islam, executive director and spokesperson of BB. The remittance inflow will increase in the next month ahead Eid-ul-Azha, as the expatriates are expected to send additional money on the occasion of the festival, he said. He said that remittance inflow has increased due to ease of incentive delivery process and devaluation of Bangladeshi taka. Also read: Bangladesh receives record $2.09 billion remittance in April Bangladesh has received $18, 9662.71 million or $18.97 billion since June 1 to May 26 of FY 22.