Tk 1,13,819 cr nat’l budget for 2009-10

Earning Tk 79,461 crore; Expenditure Tk 82,ooo crore; ADP Tk 30,500 crore; deficit Tk 34,358 crore; GDP growth target 5.5 per cent
Finance Minister Abul Mal Abdul Muhith presented a Tk. 1,13819 crore national budget for 2009-10 in parliament on Thursday with special emphasis on implementing the ruling Awami League’s election pledge – ‘Charter of Change’.
Of the total outlay of the budget, the first of this government and the 38th since independence, Tk. 82,000 crore has been earmarked for revenue expenditure and Taka 30,500 crore for the Annual Development Programme (ADP) while the GDP growth.
The budget proposes revenue earnings of Tk 79,461 crore leaving a record deficit of Tk. 34,358 crore which will be met with foreign assistance of Tk.13,803 crore and domestic borrowings of Tk. 20,555 crore. The budget deficit is estimated At 5 per cent of the GDP.
The original size of the budget for the outgoing fiscal 2008-09 was Tk.99,962 crore which stands at Tk.94,130 crore after downward revision, the total deficit being Tk. 24,960 crore
It is after two years that the finance minister presented the budget in the parliament. In the previous two years during emergency rule the budgets were announced outside of the House.
The new budget gives special attention to some key issues such as combating recession, mobilising internal and external resources, promoting agriculture, infrastructure development , education and IT, generating employment, checking inflation, and alleviating poverty.
Finance Minister Muhith’s budget, for the first time in the country’s history, includes Public-Private Partnership (PPP), bailout strategy for recession-hit sectors, special allocations for creating jobs for ultra poor and establishment of a national service scheme to facilitate people with jobs who have qualifications up to the higher secondary level. Tk. 21,00 crore has been allocated for the newest avenue of this years budget , Public Private partnership (PPP).
The new budget outlines major reforms in the tax collection machinery to mobilise more internal resources faster than ever by expanding the tax net. For fiscal 2009-10, revenue through NBR is estimated at Tk. 61,000 crore and revenue receipt from non-tax and non-NBR sectors is estimated at Tk. 15,506 crore and Tk. 2,955 crore respectively.
The size of this year’s budget is the largest ever and so is the deficit. The new budget proposes expansion of the tax net to mobilize domestic resources. Import duty on motor vehicles and other luxury items have been enhanced to mobilize domestic resources.
The budget seeks to mobilize additional revenues through various fiscal measures and restructuring the existing tax net.
The finance minister vowed to expand the tax net instead of increasing the tax rates. Total revenue earnings target for the fiscal 2009-10 is set at Tk 79,461 crore which is 14.86 percent higher than the revised revenue for the outgoing year.Of the total revenue earnings, income tax receipts are projected at Tk 16,560 crore. To boost income tax, the budget proposed taking taxpayer’s identification number (TIN) for use of cars, company registration, designing of house in divisional cities and for getting drug licenses etc. Growth of the value added tax (VAT) is estimated at 13.31 percent to Tk 22,795 crore for next fiscal.
The budget proposes to allow whitening of black money by paying 10 percent tax if invested in infrastructure, specific industrial sectors and share market. Black money can also be whitened by paying tax for purchase of appartments. This opportunity will be available for three fiscal years.
The finance minister mentioned that the budget is expansionary and ambitious, particularly the ADP and therefore he laid emphasis on effective and efficient supervisory mechanism without which he felt implementation of measures in the budget would fall behind .
Finance Minister AMA Muhit in his budget speech said, the budget for FY2009-10 will be the first step towards our journey to realise the dreams enshrined in our vision. “Through the budget proposals, after carefully evaluating our preparedness to tackle the impact of global recession, anysing the possible resource constraints and taking into account the capacity for implementation of development programmes, I intend to proceed with the budget proposals enshrining our promises to keep for the charter of change,” he said.

Courtesy of The Bangladesh Today