Budget has no effort to satisfy mass people: Debapriya

The proposed budget for FY24 has made no efforts to satisfy citizens although it is an election-year budget, Centre for Policy Dialogue Distinguished Fellow Debapriya Bhattacharya said on Wednesday.

"Higher allocations to social security programmes were expected in the election year budget, but it did not happen. Even allocations for open market sales [OMS] programmes did not increase. In contrast, the budget includes some discretionary allocations, which are perhaps more than the social security budget," he added.

The budgetary allocation to social security has come down from 62% to 30%. Besides, allocations for education and health dropped slightly, causing discomfort for common people, the economist said while presenting the keynote at a discussion organised by the CPD and the Citizens' Platform for SDGs at BRAC Centre in the capital.

"Again, there is so much criticism of the proposed Tk2,000 minimum tax. How much revenue can the provision generate? Up to Tk400 crore? Should any government tolerate such social criticism [for this little amount]? I think the main reason behind the proposal is the lack of public representatives' engagement in the budget formulation process," he added.

BRAC Education Development Institute Programme Head Sameer Ranjan Nath, Dustha Shasthya Kendra – DSK Executive Director Dibalok Singh, and CPD Senior Research Fellow Taufiqul Islam Khan also spoke at the event, titled "National Budget FY24 - What disadvantaged have people got?".

Debapriya said the pace of tax collection has slowed down since 2014, which is a result of the lack of democratic accountability that also affects development expenditure.

"At the same time, there is a mismatch between growth in tax collection and GDP. Then, where did the income go? There was something wrong with either revenue figures or growth rates. Or money was laundered," he added and noted that two-thirds of revenue in Bangladesh still come from indirect taxes.

As indirect taxes are applied equally to all, the poor are paying the same as the rich pay. "A society dependent on such indirect taxes cannot speak of equality. Discrimination is its indicator. Reliance on indirect taxes is fundamental economic mismanagement," he explained.

On foreign aid, Debapriya Bhattacharya said although the government has been saying that foreign debts are unnecessary, it is now taking loans at high costs. How much development is self-funded is a matter of debate, he added.

Mentioning that inequality in the country has been on the rise despite a gradual fall in the number of poor people, the CPD distinguished fellow argued that the country should revisit its policy and decide whether it wants to move forward with this contrast.

On the education budget, Sameer Ranjan Nath said 13.7% of the total budget has been allotted for education, but it actually got 11.6% while the rest went to science and technology. Moreover, the development budget for education has decreased.

Dibalok Singh said, "The quality of health care has been on the decline as most people across the country depend on the government's healthcare. Yet allocations for health sector development were reduced despite a gradual rise in operating expenses."

"The budget did not provide us with any plan to develop this crucial sector," he added.

Taufiqul Islam Khan said Tk1,026 crore has been allocated for social protection programmes, but most of this will be spent on paying pensions. "Even agriculture subsidies, development of sports complexes and driving training are included in social security, which in no way enhance the importance of this sector [social safety]," he added.