Bangladesh passes 68 billion USD budget for next fiscal year

Dhaka: The Bangladesh parliament on Sunday passed a record 7.97-trillion-Taka (68 billion US dollars) national budget for the 2024-25 fiscal year (July 2024-June 2025).

Finance Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali placed before the parliament the annual budget of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government.

Unanimously by voice vote, the parliament passed the budget on the last working day of the current 2023-24 financial year with some adjustments, reports Xinhua news agency.

The inflation rate which was announced at 6.5 per cent for the 2024-25 fiscal year during the budget proposal on June 6 has been revised to 6 per cent.

Bangladesh is now targeting an average inflation rate of 6 per cent in the next fiscal year, although it averaged more than 9 per cent in the past two years. However, the government projected an economic growth of 6.75 per cent in the annual budget.

On the expenditure side, the size of the Annual Development Program (ADP) for the next fiscal year will be 2.65 trillion Taka with transport, power, infrastructure, rural development and education sectors getting the biggest chunk of money.