Dhaka, June 4 (IANS) Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) on Wednesday criticised the proposed budget presented by the interim government led by Muhammad Yunus for the 2025-26 fiscal year, terming it as “unilateral, ineffective and non-participatory” as it does not represent the opinion of political parties and public.
“If the interim government wanted, it could have sought opinions from various classes and professions of society. Experts, civil society members, businesspeople, and young representatives could also have participated,” said BNP Standing Committee member Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury while addressing a budget reaction press conference at the party chairperson’s Gulshan office
“If that had happened, the budget would have symbolised a coordinated economic vision. It would have reflected the voices of different sections of the country. But that opportunity was not utilised. As a result, the budget formulation has been one-sided, non-participatory, and conventional. It lacked the reflection of new thinking,” the BNP leader was quoted as saying by the local media.
Khosru stressed that in the present political situation in Bangladesh, holding the dialogue was all the more important for the interim government prior to finalising the budget since an elected government will assume power in the 2025-26 fiscal year, Bangladeshi media outlet UNB reported.
“When a General Election is near or a new government is expected, there are different ways to approve a budget. An interim government does not usually make significant policy-structural changes, nor does it introduce notable tax adjustments or commit to new large-scale financial programmes,” he said.
The BNP leader slammed the budget proposals across various sectors, including introducing taxes on private universities, medical colleges and schools, increasing taxes on online businesses, lack of incentives for ordinary investors in the capital market, and not halting unnecessary, corrupt and inefficient development projects.
“World Bank data says that during the interim government’s tenure, more than 2.7 million people have become poorer than before. Of these, 1.8 million are women. Real incomes have declined as wage growth has lagged behind inflation,” Khosru stated.
“In addition to increasing poverty, it has also put pressure on consumer spending. Employment has decreased in almost all sectors, formal and informal, due to the stagnation of domestic and foreign investment. As a result, society is becoming more unequal and the number of poor people is increasing,” he added.
The BNP has been demanding that the interim government should hold national elections by December.
Earlier on Tuesday, Salahuddin Ahmed, a Standing Committee member of the BNP said that holding national elections in the country before December is very much possible as completing necessary reforms based on a consensus could take less than a month.
The interim government led by Yunus has been facing increasing pressure from various political parties, including the BNP, to hold elections by the end of this year.
–IANS
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