Interim govt to announce budget 2 June

Breaking with tradition, the interim government has decided to announce the national budget on 2 June.

This decision was made during a meeting of the Coordination Council on Financial, Monetary and Exchange Rate Affairs and the Asset Management Committee held at the Secretariat on Tuesday.

The meeting was chaired by the finance adviser, Salehuddin Ahmed, according to sources present at the meeting.

This will be the budget of the interim government led by Professor Muhammad Yunus.

Traditionally, the budget of Bangladesh is presented in parliament on a Thursday in June each fiscal year. But the budget for the 2025-26 fiscal year is scheduled to be announced on Monday.

It is anticipated that the proposed budget will amount to Tk 7.9 trillion (790,000 crore).

The budget will be announced before the Eid-ul-Azha holidays. The holidays are expected to start from the second week of June.

In keeping with tradition, the finance adviser will hold a post-budget press conference the following day, as confirmed by sources within the Ministry of Finance.

The original budget for the current (2024-25) fiscal year stood at Tk 7.97 trillion. Accordingly, the upcoming budget may be approximately BDT 70 billion (7,000 crore) lower than that of the current fiscal year.

As there is no national parliament, finance adviser Salehuddin Ahmed will present the upcoming budget via a televised broadcast.

The budget will be declared through a Presidential Ordinance.

In accordance with customary procedure, finance ministers of political governments present the budget in parliament; however, given the absence of a political administration, this will not take place this year.