Proposed 48th national budget placed in parliament

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina presents the proposed national budget for 2019-20 fiscal. Photo: Video grab of BTV World
Prime minister Sheikh Hasina presents the proposed national budget for 2019-20 fiscal. Photo: Video grab of BTV World

The 48th national budget of Tk 5.23 trillion (5,23,190 crore) for the 2019-20 fiscal was placed in parliament on Thursday.

Finance minister AHM Mustafa Kamal started presenting the national budget with a deficit of Tk 1.45 trillion (Tk 1,45,380 crore) in the House around 3:07pm.

As he was having problems in placing the budget due to illness, prime minister Sheikh Hasina stepped in, saying the minister was unable to read out the budget speech.

"If the Speaker allows me, I can read it out," she said.

Finally, she started placing the rest of the budget on behalf of the finance minister after speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury gave her the go-ahead.

After the budget speech by the prime minister, the finance minister placed the Finance Bill before the House.

Around 4:45pm, the speaker adjourned the session until Sunday.

This is the first budget of the Awami League government of its third successive term and also the first one for Mustafa Kamal as the finance minister.

Earlier, president Abdul Hamid authenticated the national budget and the revised budget for placing before the Jatiya Sangsad.

The new budget predicts collecting Tk 3.7 trillion (Tk 377,810 crore) as revenue in the new fiscal year.

Of the amount, the National Board of Revenue (NBR) has been tasked to collect Tk 3.25 trillion (Tk 3,25,600 crore) as revenue. The non-NBR revenue collection target is Tk 14.5 billion while the non-collection target is Tk 37.71 billion.

Besides, Tk 41.68 billion will come from foreign grants.

A 15-minute documentary highlighting various economic developments of the government was shown through a multimedia presentation before the beginning of the budget speech.