“The proposed national budget is friendly to the marginal people and the country’s businessmen as well will reap benefit from it,” said Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal on Friday.
The Minister further said that the government is confident about repatriating undisclosed money laundered abroad.
Kamal made the comments at a post-budget press conference on Friday at the capital’s Osmani Smriti Auditorium.
The finance minister on Thursday placed the Tk 6,78,064 crore national budget for the financial year 2022-2023.
At the press conference, the minister said there are records of several countries successfully bringing back laundered money.
Agriculture Minister Muhammad Abdur Razzaque, Education Minister Dipu Moni, Health Minister Zahid Maleque, State Minister for Planning Dr Shamsul Alam, Bangladesh Bank Governor Fazle Kabir, and Chairman of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) Abu Hena Md. Rahmatul Muneem among others, were present in the conference.
The minister also differentiated between black money and undisclosed money and said the government is taking initiatives to bring back the latter.
Referencing the example of Indonesia managing to bring back around $9.3 billion, the minister said that Bangladesh will also be able to repatriate illegally earned undisclosed money back to the country.
Kamal dismissed various media reports that around Tk 64,000 crore has been laundered from Bangladesh. However, whatever the real amount is, the minister said with the existing laws the government will be able to bring back laundered money.
He also said that the government is working with India for return of the money stolen by PK Halder from Bangladesh.
At the press conference, he said the new expectations of people and facilities for them were considered in the budget.
“The budget emphasises modernisation and the use of technology in every sector,” said Kamal.
He mentioned that whenever challenges come, opportunities also come along with them.
“Now we are facing challenges no doubt, but lots of opportunities are awaiting. We have exported 50 billion US Dollar worth this fiscal year, no country in the world could see such export growth amid the Covid pandemic. Our revenue growth is usually 18 to 20 percent, if we are able to reach it up to 40 percent, everything will be possible”, Kamal added.
Replying to a query regarding the government’s target of bank borrowing in this year’s budget, the Finance Minister said the bank borrowing target has been set by keeping the monetary growth and credit growth actively in consideration so there will be no problem.
BSS adds : Noting that the country's economy would be more dynamic through implementation of the proposed budget for fiscal 2022-23 ( FY23), Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal on Friday said this budget would also be helpful for the marginal people since the poor class has been duly prioritized.
"This budget for the next fiscal year will be helpful for the marginal people ...all of those including the businessmen and the marginal people will be benefitted from it and we've prepared the budget in such a way," he said.
The Finance Minister also claimed that the people of the country were not cheated over the last three years of his term as he has fulfilled whatever he pledged. "We've framed this budget considering each and every poor people,"
The Finance Minister said that the development-oriented thoughts have been prioritized in the proposed budget highlighting the desires and expectations of the common man.
"The next budget will go through a tough time as there will be many ups and downs. We'll be able to be successful by overcoming all the barriers, Insha Allah. We want to move ahead taking the countrymen with us," he added.
Kamal mentioned that when the whole of the world was affected due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, no organ of Bangladesh was affected while all the macroeconomic indicators were in good shape.
When asked about the integrated efforts from the government to deal with the price hike of essential commodities, he said that the governments render its efforts so that there is no mismatch between demand and supply.
He said although the overall budget size has decreased in percentage to GDP compared to the outgoing fiscal year, the government did not transfer its focus from expansionary monetary policy to contractionary monetary policy.
The Finance Minister claimed that the price of the locally produced items is now less, but the prices of imported products depend on the fluctuation of global market prices.
"But, I'm giving assurance that the instability in the market won't persist for long. The government will definitely have some efforts and the government is also committed in this regard. The government won't fail in this area. We'll be able to deal with it taking alongside all," he said.
When asked whether the initiative for giving amnesty to some Bangladeshis in legalizing their unreported assets abroad through providing tax would become successful, Kamal said that the government is not terming this as 'black money' rather as 'undisclosed money'. "We're trying to bring back that undisclosed money,"
He said that tax amnesty is not a new concept and Indonesia had brought back some $9.6 billion from abroad by giving such scopes in 2016.
"In giving such facility, we won't raise any question and none will be questioned. Sometimes the money and assets become undisclosed due to the system," he said.
Elaborating on the issue, the Finance Minister informed that some 17 countries of the world including USA, Canada, Germany, France, UK, Norway, Indonesia and Malaysia have given such amnesty.
"Sometimes there is mismatch, I have never told that there is no siphoning of money. Rather, cases have been filed against the accused and many of them have already landed in jail....we're trying to bring back the money which has been laundered," he added.
He also hoped that all concerned would avail themselves of such opportunity in the next budget and thus send back their money and assets to the mainstream of Bangladesh economy. "It's my belief and they won't be questioned. But those involved in Hundi will always remain in fear. The only one path is to abide by the government rules and regulations," he added.
Replying to another question, Kamal said he is hopeful of deportation of former NRB Global Bank MD PK Halder from India.
Bangladesh Bank Governor Fazle Kabir said that the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) is responsible for investigating money laundering, suspicious transactions, and cash transaction reports and it is performing its duty properly.
In the proposed budget, the government offered Bangladeshis a scope for legalising their unreported assets outside the country without facing any questions in the next fiscal year.
They will have to pay taxes ranging from only 7 to 15 percent in order to avail of this opportunity.
The opportunity will be in force starting from the first day of the new fiscal and will end on June 30, next year.
NBR Chairman Abu Hena Md Rahmatul Muneem said that through such amnesty, the Bangladeshis living abroad would be able to show and update their assets in the tax returns.
Supplementing on the issue, Agriculture Minister Dr Abdur Razzaque said since the Awami League government is a constitutional government and it abides by the rule of law, hence this amnesty would be implemented properly.
