The Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) urges the government to manage fund from other sources rather than banking channel to finance the deficit financing in 2019-20 fiscal.

Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) yesterday strongly condemned the proposed amnesty for black money in the budget for fiscal 2019-20 and termed it “unconstitutional, immoral and discriminatory”.

At a time when the government should be encouraging virtual businesses, Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has proposed 7.5 percent value-added tax on them in his budget for fiscal 2019-20, making their services dearer.

Leading business associations yesterday urged the government to ensure easy, hassle-free and business-friendly implementation of the new VAT law.

Terming the proposed national budget “highly ambitious”, the BNP yesterday said the people of the country would not accept the budget as it would increase inequality.

The budgetary measures for fiscal 2019-20 will favour the beneficiaries of “economic misrule” and hurt the middle and lower mid-income groups, the Centre for Policy Dialogue said yesterday.

Main political opposition BNP terms the budget for fiscal 2019-20 highly ambitious.

The proposed national budget for 2019-20 fiscal year will ensure facilities only to high-income people, says Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) distinguished fellow Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya.

Bangladesh government has planned to build 60 thousand flats under the public-private partnership (PPP) system in Purbachal, which is a new city of Dhaka.

Mobile phone services are likely to become costlier from today due to increased taxes. The National Board of Revenue sent a regulatory order to the mobile carries to increase the supplementary duty (SD) to 10 percent from 5 from midnight yesterday.

Shifting from its initial plan to slap a uniform rate, the government has finally proposed four rates of Value Added Tax to please businesspeople and take them on board to implement the new VAT law from the next fiscal year.

THE BIG FOUR

The government should support the garment exporters by devaluing taka against US dollar instead of giving them direct cash incentives, two economists said yesterday.

The government has significantly raised the prices of tobacco products to curb consumption.

Rejaul Karim, a college teacher by profession, took a personal loan of Tk 6 lakh at 9.50 percent interest from a private commercial bank in 2015 to tackle some family emergencies.

A look at the revised budget for the outgoing financial year and its state of implementation up to the month of March reconfirm the main weakness of our financial management, namely, the persistently low revenue mobilisation that routinely misses its target.

Imported smartphones are scheduled to turn much costlier as the government has proposed increasing supplementary duty from 10 percent to 25 percent.

Gani Mia is a farmer with no land of his own. He grows paddy, jute and other crops in others’ fields. His story, though fictitious, is in school textbooks and etched in the minds of many. It stands true for a large number of the country’s farmers, especially the marginal ones.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday presented parts of the national budget as Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal fell sick halfway through his speech.

In a push to widen the social safety net, the government decided to include all registered differently abled people, and more marginalised and vulnerable ones under its protection.