B Mirror Report: The new finance minister, Ameer Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury, has instructed relevant authorities to ensure that the government’s election pledges are reflected in the upcoming national budget, signaling the administration’s intent to begin implementing its commitments from the very first fiscal year.
The minister has urged policymakers to prepare the budget in a way that clearly highlights the progress of electoral promises. He issued the directive during a meeting yesterday at the Secretariat with officials from various departments under the ministry.
Officials present said that Ameer Khasru emphasized that the 2026-27 budget, to be presented next June, should clearly reflect the BNP’s election manifesto commitments.
A senior finance ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told TBS, “The finance minister has instructed the budget process to be aligned so that the government’s pre-election promises are reflected in the upcoming budget.”
Key BNP election pledges in the economic sector include boosting growth and investment, creating employment opportunities for youth, ensuring policy stability in business, and reforming the revenue system.
The party has also promised to increase spending in health and education to over 5 percent of GDP, which would require substantial funding.
Among other highlighted promises is the introduction of a nationwide family card system, which was specifically discussed in yesterday’s meeting. Implementing this initiative would require additional government spending of Tk 12,000–24,000 crore per year.
BNP has also pledged to forgive agricultural loans up to Tk 10,000, which would entail significant expenditure. Other promises include controlling commodity prices, supporting lower- and middle-income groups, and ensuring stable fuel and food supplies.
The government led by Tarique Rahman is expected to present its first budget in June, leaving three to three and a half months for preparation. Officials note that not all promises can be fully implemented in a single fiscal year.
However, the finance minister wants the budget to send a clear message of the government’s policy direction and willingness to fulfill its commitments.
Meanwhile, the new finance minister has set an ambitious target to raise the tax-to-GDP ratio to 8 percent within one year. Officials at the National Board of Revenue (NBR) consider this goal highly ambitious.
A senior official from NBR’s Tax Policy Wing, speaking anonymously to TBS, said that achieving this target in a single year would require nearly a 50 percent growth in revenue collection, which is “practically impossible” under the current economic conditions.
“No such economic dynamism exists that can increase revenue collection at such a high rate,” he said. According to NBR data, the tax-to-GDP ratio fell to 6.7 percent in FY24-25, despite an average 15 percent annual growth in revenue collection over the past two decades.
Toufiqul Islam Khan, Additional Director (Research) at the Centre for Policy Dialogue, told TBS that achieving BNP’s election pledges would indeed require a significant increase in revenue collection. “Increasing revenue at this rate is not impossible, but it would require extensive reforms,” he said.
At an event organized by Citizens’ Platform for SDG Bangladesh on February 19, experts recommended that the new government revise the budget for the remainder of the fiscal year. However, NBR Chairman Abdur Rahman Khan said that this topic was not discussed in Saturday’s meeting.
