The national budget for 2021-22 _ the 50th in the Golden Jubilee of Bangladesh _ will be placed in the Parliament on Thursday, aiming to restore the momentum of the pandemic-hit economic growth.   Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal will deliver the budget speech for the third consecutive year at 3pm under the theme: ‘Priority on lives and livelihoods, tomorrow’s Bangladesh’. This is the 13th budget in a row for the Awami League government. According to the sources in the Finance Ministry and the National Board of Revenue (NBR) the size of the budget would be Tk 603,681 crore. It is Tk 35,681 crore higher than the original budget size of the current fiscal year, which is Tk 5,68,000 crore. It is 17.47% of the GDP and it is over 6 % in recent years. The budget will give special priority to health, agriculture, social safety nets, employments, food and disaster management and food security apart from addressing the COVID-19 related issues. READ: President to attend parliament to witness budget presentation The GDP size for the next fiscal has been set at Tk 34,73,911 crore. In proposed budget the deficit will be Tk 213,802 crore and it will mainly be filled from the banking sector as there is sufficient liquidity. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will chair a special Cabinet meeting at 12 noon Thursday at the Cabinet room of the parliament to approve the budget proposals. The government is putting its focus on expanding the net to collect more revenue to tackle the big expenditures proposed in the budget.  The total revenue collection has been fixed at Tk 392,490 crore, which is 11.35% of the GDP. The National Board of Revenue (NBR) will collect  Tk 330,078 crore which is 9.5% of the GDP, Tk 16,000 crore will come from non-NBR sector while Tk 43,000 will come from non-tax pocket. The target for foreign aid, grants and loans has been set at Tk 3490 crore. The government plans to borrow some Tk 100,000 crore from there, while Tk 30,000 will come from savings certificates and rest of the money will come from foreign grants and loans. GDP growth for the coming fiscal is estimated at 7.2% while the GDP for the running fiscal has been reduced to 6.1%. In the budget proposal for 2020-21 fiscal the GDP was estimated at 8.2%, but due to the second wave of coronavirus and government imposed lockdown it has been reduced to 6.1%. The inflation rate for the next fiscal would be the same as this year, 5.3% as the government is expecting a good production of food in the country like the previous year. There will be Tk 10,000 crore special allocation for facing the impacts of COVID-19 in the budget. The social safety net will be expanded with Tk 125,000 crore which is 30% higher than the current fiscal. Meanwhile, the government has approved the Annual Development Programme (ADP) involving Tk 225,324 crore for 1,426 projects for the 2021-22 fiscal year with focus on transport and communications, power, housing, education and health sectors. Besides, Tk 11,469 crore also was allocated for autonomous entities. Of the Tk 225,324 crore, an amount of Tk 137,300 crore will come from internal sources while Tk 88,224 crore from foreign sources.  Of the Tk 11,469 crore of the autonomous entities, the internal sources will provide Tk 6717 crore while the foreign portion will be Tk 4751crore. Of the total budget, Tk 3,61,500 crore will be for operating or non-development expenditure while for capital expenditure Tk 32,660 crore has been allocated. The maximum amount from the operating expenditure amounting to Tk 68,589 crore will be spent on loan interest payments – Tk 62,000 crore on internal loans and Tk 6,589 crore on external ones. Some 5.25 lakh new widowed and abandoned women will come under the social safety net programme, the number of old age allowance recipients may increase by 8 lakh, while the number of beneficiaries from the Hijra, Bede and lagging behind communities would be raised by 9000. Besides, the road transport workers and river transport workers would come under the social safety net programmes for the first time as they struck hard during the pandemic. To face the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic, there will be Taka 10,000 crore special allocation in the budget. The provision for legalising undisclosed income unquestioned in the next fiscal year’s budget would continue. The budget might see 2.5 percentage points cut in corporate tax, a longstanding demand of the private sector. At present, the corporate tax range from 25 per cent to 45 per cent. The one-person company law would be implemented from the next fiscal year, and the corporate tax for such companies would be fixed at 25 per cent. The budget for fiscal 2021-22 might also see a tax holiday for 10 years for manufacturing import-substitute products like cars. READ: Parliament’s budget session set to begin Wednesday The tax holiday would be extended for another 10 years on some conditions. The government might extend a tax holiday for 10 years for constructing hospitals outside Dhaka each with at least 250 beds.

Startup Bangladesh Ltd. signified the birth centennial of Father of the nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the Golden Jubilee of Bangladesh by investing Tk. 100 crore for 50 startups for the current (2021) year. Marking the occasions, Startup Bangladesh Ltd. at a programme at ICT Division at Agargaon in the capital on Wednesday (March 31, 2021) launched "ShotoBorshe Shoto Asha" to invest Tk. 15 crore for seven startups as part of its first series of investments. Startup Bangladesh Limited is the flagship venture capital fund of the ICT Ministry. Read Bangladeshi startup Dataful joins Startup Istanbul’s portfolio. Under the visionary guidance of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Startup Bangladesh - the first and only venture capital fund sponsored by the Bangladesh government, started its journey in March, 2020 with an allocated capital of Tk. 500 crores. The seven startups that today received Tk. 15 crore ( 1.75 million) as part of first series of the investments are Pathao (ride-sharing/logistics), Dhaka Cast (health-tech), Moner Bondhu (mental health and Wellbeing), Chaldal ( e-commerce), Eduhive (education-tech), Sheba.xyz (domestic services and SME) and Intelligent Machines (software services). The event was told that the startups received this fund to scale up their production, improve the quality of goods and services and develop the supply chain & marketing strategies. Also read: There's a woman behind many successful startups in Bangladesh Zunaid Ahmed Palak MP, State Minister of the ICT Division, was present as chief guest at the event. Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury MP, Deputy Minister of Education, and Principal Coordinator, SDG Affairs, Prime Minister’s Office Zuena Aziz were special guests. N M Zeaul Alam PAA, Senior Secretary, ICT Division and Chairman, board of directors of Startup Bangladesh Ltd., was the guest of honour. Zunaid Ahmed Palak officially launched the "ShotoBorshe Shoto Asha” and declared the investment of this venture capital fund. Also read: The stress of starting a startup: 'Funding remains the biggest challenge' Through this initiative, he said, the government created a national entrepreneurship platform to support the startup ecosystem. “Startups could play a crucial role in addressing the market needs, which will serve as the foundation for far-reaching consequences in the GDP’s overall growth. The tech-solutions provided by startups could support the nation’s achieving Sustainable Development Goals by 2030,” said Palak. Senior Secretary, ICT Division and Chairman, board of directors of Startup Bangladesh Ltd., N M Zeaul Alam PAA, commented that the organization would develop the entrepreneurial ecosystem and connect entrepreneurs and startups to foster collaboration with all the stakeholders. Also read: Survey underway to identify challenges for startups Speaking as a guest speaker, Ki-Hak Sung, Chairman, and CEO at Youngone Corp, said, “I have been associated with Bangladesh for the past 36 years and am excited to be in this growth journey ahead”. The company is eyeing to invest USD 1 Billion over the next few years in Bangladesh. In his address, Chris Burry, the Co CEO of US Market Access Inc., wished for Startup Bangladesh Limited all the success in the coming days. Mustafa Usman Turan, Turkish Ambassador to Bangladesh, said his country is keen to develop partnerships in the information technology (IT) and e-commerce sectors of Bangladesh. Tina F. Jabeen, Managing Director & CEO, Startup Bangladesh Ltd, said, “Among all frontier markets, Bangladesh holds the most promising opportunity for venture capital and private equity investments. Read Japan to make more investment in Bangladesh after end of pandemic: Naoki

US Senator Bob Menendez, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has greeted Bangladesh and its people marking the 50th anniversary of Bangladesh’s independence. Extending best wishes to the people of Bangladesh, Senator Menendez said the members of Congress have a proud history of support for Bangladesh’s freedom. “Senator Ted Kennedy’s 1971 visit drew international attention to the repression the people of Bangladesh faced, and Kennedy became a champion for the importance of Bangladesh’s independence,” the Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee said in the statement.  Also read: Curtain falls on 10-day celebration marking golden jubilee, Bangabandhu’s birth centenary He looks forward to strengthening the Bangladesh-US relationship on the basis of those values to address major issues including climate change, human rights, and humanitarian challenges. Also read: PM releases commemorative stamp marking Golden Jubilee Senator Menendez expressed gratefulness for the contributions made by Bangladeshi-Americans to the United States.