BM Desk: Journalists have urged to ensure tax collection from the house owners in the budget in 2025-26 financial year. At the same time, they proposed to increase the tax-free life limit of individuals to 5 lakh taka. The journalists made this proposal in a pre-budget discussion with Finance Adviser Salehuddin Ahmed at the Secretariat.

In the discussion, the finance advisor said that the next budget will not be unnecessarily large. This budget will be realistic. And there will be no talkativeness in the budget speech. No false assurances will be given. Editors and journalists of electronic and print media participated in the pre-budget discussion.

Finance Secretary Md. After Khairuzzaman Majumdar gave his opening speech, the media representatives gave their suggestions one by one. The Financial Advisor spoke last.

The size of the Annual Development Program (ADP) will not be very large, the Finance Advisor said. He said that there will be steps to expand private sector business and trade in the next budget. Not only that, but there will also be efforts to reduce inflation, create employment opportunities and increase income.

Salehuddin Ahmed said, ‘The things that were said to be done earlier, were not done later. We will keep an eye on this; that is, the impact and implementation. And earlier the budget speech used to be 200 to 300 pages. This time it will not be more than 50 to 60 pages.’

Informing about the increase in the amount of allowance in the social security program in the next budget, the Finance Advisor said, ‘Our time is short. At this time, we will not be able to focus on medium and long-term issues. Because, this is not our mandate.’

The Finance Advisor said, ‘We will not be able to avoid transitioning from Least Developed Country (LDC). Five to six countries are looking at us. We will also be proud of this.’