This year the budget session of the Parliament will begin on May 31 as Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal is scheduled to present the national budget for the 2023-24 fiscal year on June 1. President Mohammed Shahabuddin summoned the 23th session (Budget Session) of the 11th parliament exercising power bestowed upon him by Article 72(1) of the Constitution. The budget session will start at 5:00pm on May 31, said a press release from Parliament on Sunday. On May 11 last, the National Economic Council (NEC) on Thursday approved a Tk 263,000 crore Annual Development Programme (ADP) for the next fiscal year (FY24) making highest allocation of Tk 75,945 crore (28.88pc of allocation) in the transport and communication sector. Also read: 22nd session of 11th Parliament prorogued Out of the original ADP allocation, Tk 169,000crore will be drawn from the local sources while Tk 94,000 crore will come from the foreign sources. In 2022, Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal placed Tk 678,064-crore national budget for the fiscal year 2022-23 in the House.  

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.

The Jatiya Sangsad (JS) budget session for 2022-23 fiscal year will begin on June 5. President Abdul Hamid summoned the 18th JS session exercising power bestowed upon him by Article 72(1) of the Constitution. Also read: President prorogues 17th JS session The JS session will begin at 5 pm, said a press release signed by Md Tariq Mahmud, Director (public relations) of the Parliament Secretariat on Wednesday. The 17th session of 11th parliament was prorogued on April 6 after eight sittings.

The Budget Session of the current Parliament will begin on Wednesday to approve the national budget for the 2021-22 fiscal year. The session, said to be a brief one, will begin at 5 pm with the presence of a handful of lawmakers in the House as part of precautionary measures to maintain social distancing and thus avoid the risk of Covid-19 infections. Read:Govt. set to expand social safety allowances in upcoming budget Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal will place the proposed budget of Tk 603,681 crore, which is 17.47% of the GDP, in the House on June 3 with more than 6% of deficit. It will be placed once it is approved by the special cabinet meeting which will be held at the cabinet room of Parliament with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair. According to sources at the Parliament Secretariat, this session will be a brief one, not more than two weeks, unlike other budget sessions held before the Covid-19 pandemic. Last year, the budget session was prorogued after nine working days due to the pandemic. It was the shortest budget session in Bangladesh’s recent history. Read: Prioritise saving lives, tackling inequality in budget: CPD Only budget-related and other important works will be done in this session while the question-answer sessions for the Prime Minister and Ministers will be tabled. Only MPs, staffers and officials of the parliament secretariat after being tested negative for Covid-19 will be allowed to attend the session. Senior MPs have been advised not to take part in the session. Parliament will conduct its daily business with less than 100 MPs for maintaining distance in their sitting arrangement. Read:Parliament gets Tk 336.14cr budget for next fiscal year As per the constitution of the country, there is an obligation to pass the budget before June 30 while the rules of procedure also instruct the MPs to take part in budget discussions. Meanwhile, the media has been advised to cover the budget session from live telecast on Sangsad Television instead of coming to parliament as no pass will be issued to journalists to cover the budget session this time also due to the Covid-19 situation.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday told Parliament that the government would continue to take measures to ease sufferings of the people by restoring their normal livelihoods alongside fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.

The second budget session (8th session) of the 11th parliament began with Speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudury in the chair on Wednesday afternoon amid the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.