Budget favours beneficiaries of economic misrule: CPD
Debapriya says it will benefit upper- and upper-middle class people
The proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year favours the beneficiaries of economic misrule, the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) said yesterday.
“The budget will benefit the upper- and upper-middle class people,” said Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya, a distinguished fellow at the independent think tank. “The budget has nothing for the terminal people.”
He was speaking at a post-budget press conference titled “National Budget for 2019-20: An analytical prospect” organised by the CPD at a city hotel.
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Debapriya said the budget has created an opportunity for black money holders by giving scope to invest their ill-gotten money.
He said by increasing the limit of surcharge, the wealth of the rich people has been taken out of the wealth tax.
The budget did not mention any guideline for reforming the banking sector, he said. “In the budget, there is no mention of the crisis in the banking sector. It has very scanty information about banking.”
On the other hand, by allocating merely 5 percent of the total budget outlay for education, health, and social sector, the lower- and lower-middle class people have been deprived of opportunities and the high-income group has been provided scopes.
Debapriya said, “The government manifesto spoke about building an inclusive and balanced society, which has not been reflected in the budget.”
The budget lacks specific guidelines required for building a prosperous Bangladesh, he said. “The election manifesto [of the government] pledged elimination of disparity but the budget does not have any such guideline.”
The CPD distinguished fellow said a society in which inequality increases cannot survive.
“An uneven society will crumble today or tomorrow. With the present rate of increase in disparity the growth cannot be maintained, a prosperous Bangladesh cannot be built,” he added.
