Distinguished Fellow of the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya on Saturday said that as there are no significant initiatives for recovering defaulted loans, bringing back laundered money, or expanding the tax net, there is no real surprise in the proposed budget.
Debapriya made the comment while speaking at a pre-budget shadow parliament session organized by Debate for Democracy at the Bangladesh Film Development Corporation (BFDC).
Recovering embezzled money, laundered funds, and defaulted loans during the previous regime could serve as an innovative source of revenue in the upcoming national budget, he said.
The upcoming budget seems to follow a conventional path with little scope for innovation, he said.
Debapriya highlighted both the achievements and challenges of the current government’s economic management.
He said the government’s major success in recent times has been reducing the pressure of foreign debt by repaying $5 billion, which had been steadily increasing year after year under the previous government.
“The immediate past government left the country in a precarious situation with heavy foreign debt,” he said.
Debapriya praised the current government’s efforts in managing the external sector, including remittance inflows, export earnings, debt servicing, reserve accumulation, and exchange rate stability.
Criticizing the existing development projects, he said that many are overvalued and that nearly 40% of the expenditures are fictitious.
“The projects responsible for financial outflow in the past continue unabated,” he added.
Debapriya also stressed the need for proper management of revenue expenditure to build trust among taxpayers.
“Our tax system remains inequitable,” he said, adding that while some macroeconomic stability has been achieved in the external sector, private sector investment and domestic economic stability are still far from satisfactory.
Debate for Democracy Chairman Hasan Ahmed Chowdhury Kiron presided over the session.