Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal yesterday proposed doubling the subsidy for the gas sector to Tk 9,600 crore for 2019-20, from Tk 4,500 crore in the previous year.

All eyes were on fever-stricken Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal as he stepped into parliament to unveil his maiden national budget yesterday.

More than a year ago, when Mohammad Zayed graduated from a university college in the capital, his family started expecting that he would soon take over the financial responsibility.

The new budget is growth-friendly and has set ambitious goals but shied away from addressing the key challenges confronting the economy, said a number of economists in their immediate reactions.

Bangladesh Food Safety Authority (BFSA) has prepared a report claiming that it has removed most of the 52 substandard food items from the market across the country and filed 52 cases against the companies concerned as per the High Court directives.

In 2010, the government decided to construct a 128-kilometre (km) metre gauge rail track to link Chattogram with tourist town Cox’s Bazar at a cost of Tk 1,852.35 crore.

It has become a tradition for the budget to be increased every year by 17-18 percent so this year, there was no reason to expect this to change. Generally, Bangladesh’s budget has maintained a sectoral balance in its stance, giving priority to education, agriculture, infrastructure and social sector expenditures.

The cost of mobile phone usage is going up from tonight as the national board of revenue has already sent statuary regulatory order (SRO) to all mobile phone operators soon after placing the proposed national budget for 2019-20 fiscal in the parliament.

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal, in his budget speech, has projected the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate at 8.2 per cent in the proposed national budget for 2019-20 fiscal.

Find the pie charts for the national budget for fiscal year 2019-20 that Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has placed in the parliament.

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal in his budget speech in the parliament says that the government will avoid issuing statutory regulatory order (SRO) without any abnormal situation to bring transparency in the revenue management.

Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) says the national budget for the 2019-20 was not placed in light of the real situation on the ground.

Steps have been taken to bring all courts of the country within the ICT network through e-judiciary process to accelerate the disposal of cases, Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal says in his budget speech at the parliament.

The price of gold will go down as a reduction of duty on its import has been proposed in the budget for fiscal year 2019-20.

BNP Standing Committee Member Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury says that the government has kept Tk 145,380 crore deficit in the proposed national budget for 2019-20 fiscal which will be realised from people anyhow.

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has suggested a number of reforms to bring back discipline in the banking sector.

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal proposes changes to duties on different products, which will result in increase and decrease in their prices.

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has vowed to raise the tax-GDP ratio to 15 percent in two years from present 10 percent, a move that needs a lot of efforts and investments from the government to achieve.

The government will bring all of its employees under insurance coverage, says Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal in his budget speech.

The budget for fiscal 2019-20 includes plan for pension for all. Pension for all employed citizens in both formal and informal sectors will be ensured gradually, says the budget proposal placed at parliament.