Budget measures to tame inflation not enough: CPD

The measures mentioned in the proposed budget to control inflation are not enough, said the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) in its immediate reaction to the budget for FY23.

At a press briefing on Thursday, Dr Fahmida Khatun, executive director at the CPD, said the targets set in the budget appear to be alright, but the initiatives to achieve those are inadequate to deal with the existing challenges.

"Different types of tax reliefs have been proposed in this budget for bringing back laundered money. These kinds of steps are never implemented. More importantly, such a move is completely unethical," she also said.

While the government is offering tax waivers to people who have amassed wealth unlawfully, it is barely taking any step to ease the tax burden on the poor or the low-income people, she mentioned, adding, "This is not acceptable from the point of view of social justice."

"We have seen in the proposed budget that the import substitution industry has been prioritised in order to reduce imports, which we welcome. It will help to create jobs."

This year's budget comes at a time when the world is going through an economic crisis. The effects of the Russia-Ukraine war are being felt everywhere just when global economies are set to overcame pandemic onslaughts, Fahmida added, noting that the war has dealt a quiet blow to the global economy and broken supply chains. 

"The situation in Bangladesh is no different. We have already seen that the inflation rate is very high. Besides, a kind of pressure has been created in the foreign reserves," she pointed out.

The budget calls for stabilising the exchange rate and keeping the foreign exchange reserves satisfactory, but they do not see any clear steps or guidelines in this regard in the proposed budget, Fahmida said.

Although the new budget mentions universal pensions, there are no guidelines or clear steps on how to implement them, she also said.