BM Desk : Prominent economist Dr. Debapriya Bhattacharya called the proposed budget for the fiscal year 2025–2026 “a budget of disappointment in many aspects” on Wednesday.

In many instances, he stated, “this budget has been a budget of disappointment. This dissatisfaction stems from expectations because we wanted something different, but we are seeing that in many ways it is traditional.”
During his opening remarks at a discussion gathering entitled “National Budget 2025-26: What is there for the left-behinds,” the distinguished fellow of the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) made the statements.

Senior Research Fellow of the CPD Towfiqul Islam Khan gave the keynote address at the event, which was organized by the Citizen’s Platform for SDGs, Bangladesh, in a downtown hotel, according to UNB.
According to Dr. Debapriya, this budget was highly anticipated because the government had just emerged from a significant political revolt.
“This administration was established with an anti-discrimination ethos. We have high expectations for this budget, therefore it was meant to be something unusual,” he stated.
The distinguished fellow from CPD further claimed that this budget was made public before receiving cabinet approval. He stated, “This has come before people without administrative and state approval; normally, the budget passes in the cabinet first.”

In his keynote address, CPD Senior Research Fellow Towfiqul Islam Khan noted that economic policy and benchmark-setting do not adequately reflect macroeconomic realities.
As the legacy of the previous administration persists, he stated, “the fiscal framework remains unrealistic and expected to undergo a big transformation. Fiscal measures lack transparency and are frequently not backed by evidence, with the legalizing black money clause continuing in place without rationale.”
He stated that the budget indicates no significant structural change in revenue mobilization and that it would continue to rely on indirect taxes, which disproportionately punish low-income individuals. “Bangladesh’s limited fiscal space will continue to haunt it.”

According to Towfiqul Islam Khan, social protection has resulted in some improvements, but there hasn’t been a noticeable improvement in the distribution of funds for LNOB organizations’ priority sectors.
“With no significant change in objectives or improvements in project quality, ADP allocation reflects historical trends,” he stated.
He claimed that the budget process is not inclusive and rigorous, that political actors were totally disregarded, that data transparency is still lacking, and that the budget is still not linked to the government’s larger reform program.