Economic analysts at a virtual pre-budget dialogue urged the government to focus on policy reforms to boost private sector investment which is essential to stimulate the post-COVID recovery process.
They shed light on the declining trend in revenue collection in the recent budgets: 83% of the actual revenue target was met in the fiscal year 2016-17 which decreased to 75% in 2017-18 and 74% in 2018-19.
SANEM organized the pre-budget virtual dialogue titled “Budget 2021-22: Reality and Expectations” to discuss the importance of the national budget in addressing the challenges of the ongoing pandemic.
Dr Selim Raihan, Professor, Department of Economics, University of Dhaka and Executive Director, SANEM, moderated the event.
The keynote presentation was delivered by Dr Sayema Haque Bidisha, Professor, Department of Economics, University of Dhaka and Research Director, SANEM. Economists, researchers, academicians, development practitioners, journalists and students were also present during the webinar. In her presentation, Dr Sayema Haque Bidisha acknowledged that the budget for the next fiscal year would have to consider both pre-COVID as well as post-COVID challenges. She pointed out that the existing budget structure suffers from low revenue generation and slow implementation of ADP.
She stressed that the prime objective of the upcoming fiscal budget should be to ensure better health management while restoring the income level of people through employment generation. To attain this objective, she mentioned four key areas of priority: Health, Education, Social Safety Net and Agriculture.
Dr Bidisha referred to several studies conducted by SANEM which have indicated a rise in the national poverty rates. According to these studies, the pandemic has caused the national poverty rate to increase from 21.6% to 42%, but no specific program for the new poor was introduced in the budget of FY2020-21.
Dr Bidisha indicated that although the safety net allocation was around 16.8% of the total budget in FY 2020-21, this figure is much lower if allocations for pension for retired government officers, savings certificate interest and secondary and higher education stipend are not considered. After the presentation, Dr Selim Raihan expressed his views and aspirations for the upcoming national budget. He mentioned that, since the budget for FY 2021-22 is going to be the second budget announced during the pandemic, policymakers should primarily focus on addressing the urgent needs that have emerged due to the ongoing crisis.
