Education Minister Dipu Moni on Friday said the government would publish a list of education institutions within a week for bringing them under the government’s pay order. “We think we’ll be able to make the list, we’re now working for the MPO (Monthly Pay Order) enlistment, to be published within a week,” she said at a post-budget press conference in the city’s Osmani Smriti Auditorium in the afternoon. Replying to a question, the minister said the government will surely enlist the education institutions under the MPO net, but didn’t disclose the number. Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal, Agriculture Minister Muhammad Abdur Razzaque, Health Minister Zahid Maleque, State Minister for Planning Shamsul Alam, Bangladesh Bank Governor Fazle Kabir, Finance Senior Secretary Abdur Rouf Talukder and Chairman of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) Abu Hena Md Rahmatul Muneem spoke at the conference. The finance minister on Thursday unveiled the Tk 678,064-crore national budget for the financial year 2022-2023 with special focus on economic recovery from uncertainties caused by Covid-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war. In reply to a question about the budgetary allocation for education, Dipu said the budget of the Education Ministry increased by 19.72 per cent (some 20 per cent) this time comparing to the previous year. Besides, the allocation for research and development budget also rose in this sector. Now they’ve to pay stronger attention to the effective utilization of the allocations made for them, she said, adding that not only his ministry and primary education ministry, rather a total of 28 ministries are working on education and development of human resources. She thanked the prime minister and the Finance Ministry for preparing the pro-people budget amid the current global situation. In the proposed budget, the allocation for education is Tk 81,449 crore in the 2022-23 fiscal year increasing from Tk 71,974 crore in the 2021-22 fiscal year. The allocation against education still remains less than 2 per cent of the country’s GDP. Tk 31,761 crore was allocated against the Primary and Mass Education Ministry for the upcoming fiscal year, while Tk 39,961 crore against the Secondary and Higher Education Division and Tk 9,727 against Technical and Madrasa Division. We’re happy with allocation: Health Minister In the press conference, Health Minister Zahid Maleque said some Tk 40,000 crore (exactly Tk 36,863 crore) was allocated for health sector this time, which is some 5.5 per cent (exact 5.43 per cent) of the total budget. “The budget puts a high emphasis on health and education. So, we’re very happy,” he said replying to a question if he and his colleague Dipu Moni are satisfied over the allocations for health and education sectors. The health minister said medical research, non-contagious diseases, vaccination production and improved health system were highlighted in the budget. The import duty on health equipment and raw materials were reduced, he said.

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has started presenting the national budget in Parliament for the 2021-22 fiscal year with a focus on health, agriculture, social safety nets and job creation. The finance minister began rolling out the Tk 603,681 crore budget around 3:05 pm outlining measures to save lives and create more jobs so that people can cope with the fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic. Read:Cabinet approves proposed budget for new fiscal The budget also has a big focus on disaster management and food security apart from addressing the Covid-related issues. This is the third time Mustafa Kamal presenting the budget themed as "Priority on lives and livelihoods, tomorrow's Bangladesh.", while it is the 13th budget in a row for the Awami League government and the 50th for the country. Earlier, President Abdul Hamid authenticated the national budget and the revised budget for placing before the Jatiya Sangsad. Read: New national budget to be presented Thursday, aims at regaining fast economic growth The total revenue collection has fixed at Tk 389,000 crore, where National Board of Revenue (NBR) will collect Tk 330,000 crore while Tk 16,000 crore will come from non-NBR sector and Tk 43,000 will come from non-tax segment. Besides, Tk 3490 crore will come from foreign aid, grants and loans. Read:President to attend parliament to witness budget presentation 

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.