The health sector received the biggest boost in the proposed national budget for the next fiscal year, with a sharp increase in allocation and a package of tax concessions aimed at lowering healthcare costs for ordinary people.

Leaders and activists of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami’s Dhaka North and South units brought out separate protest marches in the capital yesterday, denouncing the proposed FY2026–27 budget as “anti-people”.

Budget FY27 in Tk 100

Although the proposed budget for fiscal year 2026-27 offers some measures that are aligned with the government’s Smooth Transition Strategy (STS) for LDC graduation, it lacks a dedicated framework with preparations for this watershed moment, which is due in November, experts said.

The government has identified energy security as one of its top strategic priorities for fiscal 2026-27, even as it proposed a nearly 23 percent reduction in the power and energy sector’s allocation from this year’s original.

For years, the country boasted of being “Digital Bangladesh”, and yet beneath the slogans, the country’s telecom and technology sectors were often weighed down by high taxes, regulatory uncertainty and policies that made long-term investment difficult.

In its first budget in two decades, the BNP government yesterday boosted allocations for education and health and significantly expanded social safety programmes, reflecting its key electoral pledges.

The proposed budget for FY2026-27 lays out an ambitious package of tax incentives, duty concessions and policy reforms aimed at attracting investment, diversifying industry and lowering the cost of doing business.

Despite low GDP growth over the past three consecutive years, the government is targeting 6.5 percent growth for the next fiscal year in the proposed budget, based on the democratisation of the economy and encouraging private sector investment to boost growth, two economists said today

The government has proposed withdrawing source tax on the import of 60 essential commodities, aiming to improve the standard of living of every individual and family in the country

Keep the budget in line with ground realities.

Party says proposed budget places additional burden on ordinary citizens

The government has proposed the complete withdrawal of import duty on 51 new raw materials used in the manufacture of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) to make medicines more affordable for consumers in the domestic marke

The Foreign Investors’ Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI), the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB), the Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI), and the American Chamber of Commerce in Bangladesh (AmCham) have welcomed several measures in the proposed national budget for the 2026-27 fiscal year unveiled today.

While describing it as a largely realistic budget, he argued that the new government's ambitious targets have resulted in an expansionary fiscal plan whose implementation will be extremely difficult

The Bangladesh government has proposed appropriate policy formulation in the electronics sector to transform the country into one of the leading global electronics manufacturing hubs within the next five years, as part of its fiscal year 2026-27 budget.

He said the government's decision to keep corporate tax rates unchanged, alongside measures to lower the cost of foreign borrowing and machinery leasing, would provide greater certainty for investors

The Bangladesh government has proposed sweeping tax concessions for the semiconductor industry, including reducing import duties on key raw materials to 1 percent until mid-2031, as part of its fiscal year 2026-27 budget.

Proposed budget keeps the monthly allowance for general freedom fighters unchanged at Tk 20,000

After a long period of closure, the government has also restarted the process of reopening labour markets in Malaysia, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, and Kuwait, the finance minister said during his budget speech today