Professor Abul Barkat
[replace with] Department of Economics
[replace with] University of Dhaka

I have few comments on the budget.
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[replace with] As Honorable Finance Minister provides more focus on poverty alleviation [replace with] as he does always, there is no clear strategy for it. We have to define [replace with] what we mean by poverty alleviation. Who are poor? And what portion of [replace with] the budget is allocated for them? This is not clear in this budget. The [replace with] strategy and budget allocation for poverty alleviation is not clear to [replace with] me.
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[replace with] Total size of this year's budget is high. But we have to think that, [replace with] last year government could not spend 70% of the ADP. How this increased [replace with] budget will be realized this year? What are the reasons behind it? Is [replace with] there any hidden reason behind it? There could be a political factor as [replace with] the election is knocking at the door. Or is there any pressure from [replace with] outside? This is not clear to me. But there are some factors behind it [replace with] which is not clear to me.
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[replace with] Overall inflation rate is 1.4% and this rate is 7% for food. There is no [replace with] clear strategy how this budget will contribute to control this [replace with] inflation.
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[replace with] There is a provision of whitening black money and 6.5% tax is imposed on [replace with] it. What is the benefit of it? In my findings I have observed that a [replace with] total of 7,000 crore Taka came into our market as black money. [replace with] Government declare it 100-1200 crore Taka. But end of the year, total [replace with] black money realized was Taka 200-300 crore Taka. What is the benefit of [replace with] it? We have to know the source of this block money. What is the amount [replace with] of such black money? What are the sources? How to handle the sources? On [replace with] the one hand, government anti-corruption department says that, whitening [replace with] black money is not ethical; on the other hand government is keeping [replace with] provision for it. Isn't contradictory? We have to make a well accepted [replace with] conclusion.
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[replace with] Tax holiday is discussed as usual. But it will be misused. We have to [replace with] know the sub-sectors where tax holiday is applicable. These are not [replace with] clear to me. We have to know the relationship with this tax holiday with [replace with] export growth, GDP, employment. These are not clear.
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