Finance Minister AMA Muhith has hinted that tariff on electricity and fuel would be increased in the future to reduce government expenditure.
“In order to reduce the size of public expenditure, we adjusted administered prices of electricity and fuel to harmonise them with international prices which we expect to continue in future too,” the finance minister said in his budget speech Thursday.
He, however, said the size of the revised ADP would actually be Tk571.2bn as various autonomous bodies and corporations had undertaken Tk47.54bn self-financed projects during the current fiscal year.
The allocation for subsidy has been increased in the revised budget by Tk37.72bn to reach Tk388.08bn. “In fact, this increase is attributable to payment of arrears accumulated over the last few years,” he said.
In the original budget for the ongoing fiscal year, deficit was estimated at 5% of the Gross Domestic Product.