Budget FY25: All stories

Finance Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali presented the proposed budget for the 2024-2025 fiscal year, totaling Tk797,000 crore (Tk7.97 trillion), in parliament on Thursday.

Finance Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali has said that the government has taken plans to develop international standard tourism facilities in Rangpur, Chandpur, and Cox's Bazar.

Budget allocations for health services, education and research have increased with a focus on developing skilled healthcare professionals and improving maternal as well as child health services.

If the proposed national budget for fiscal year 2024-25 is implemented, tobacco products will stay affordable, encouraging people to use tobacco products, increasing tobacco-related fatalities and diseases, and therefore increasing the government's public health spending, experts said.

Steps will be taken to set up digital classrooms in three classrooms in 650 primary schools in disadvantaged areas of the country, said Finance Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali on Thursday.

The government has adopted a zero-tolerance policy against corruption to create a good governance-based administrative framework for the socio-economic development of the country by curbing and preventing corruption.

Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader has described the proposed budget for the fiscal year 2024-25 as practical and pro-people.

In order to provide housing facilities for low-income individuals and residents, the Bangladesh government has made plans to construct 4,032 rental-based residential flats in the 2024-2025 fiscal year.

Finance Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali presented the proposed budget for the 2024-2025 fiscal year amounting to Tk797,000 crore (Tk7.97 trillion) in parliament on Thursday.

The prices of motorcycles over 250cc may increase as the national budget for fiscal year 2024-25 has proposed increasing the import duty from 5% to 15% on many parts of motorcycles.

The Ministry of Defence has been allocated Tk42,315 crore in the proposed budget for the 2024-25 fiscal year, which is Tk4,141 crore more than the Tk38,174 crore it received in the revised budget in the last financial year.

Significant changes have been proposed to baggage rules in the budget for FY25. For instance, 24-carat gold ornaments will not be allowed. Only gold ornaments of 22 carats or lower, up to 100 grams, can be brought in.

The government preferred keeping farm subsidy amount lower in FY25 comparing to the current fiscal’s revised subsidy for agriculture.

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Thursday labeled the proposed national budget for the 2024-25 fiscal year as anti-Bangladesh, saying it contains new schemes to facilitate the embezzlement of public money by the ruling party-backed looters.

Finance Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali on Thursday proposed to bring more people under the social safety net programs as he noted substantial progress in poverty alleviation and employment due to the government's multi-pronged interventions.

In a significant move to improve financial benefits for retired government employees and teachers, Finance Minister Abul Hasan Mahmud has announced several key reforms in his budget speech presented at the National Parliament on Thursday.

Remittances sent by Bangladeshi expatriate workers doubled in the last 13 years, increasing to $21.61 billion in the outgoing fiscal year 2023-24.

The government has proposed a 1% import duty on all types of capital machinery for industries in economic zones and high-tech parks for the fiscal year 2024-25.

Several demands from major trade bodies were left unaddressed in the proposed new budget for FY25, announced on Thursday. One of the key requests was to reduce the source tax from 1% to 0.5%, but the new budget failed to incorporate this change. Additionally, demands for a reduction in corporate tax and other tax-related benefits were not met.

As part of the government's ongoing policy to facilitate access to medical care, ambulances are eligible for reduced import duties which would reduce its cost.

Currently, household water purifiers are being produced locally, and to support this sector, the import duty on such equipment is proposed to rise from 10% to 15%.

The budget for 2024-25 fiscal has put emphasis on creation of employment and heavy industrialization, aiming to face the challenges of graduation from developing to upper-middle income country alongside revenue collection.

The government has proposed an allocation of Tk80,498 crore for the communication sector, including roads, bridges, railways, sea routes, and airways, in the budget for FY25, Tk4,693 crore less than the previous year.

For the protection of women and children, Finance Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali has proposed an extension on the exemption of Value Added Tax (VAT) and supplementary duty on the import of raw materials of sanitary napkins and diapers.

Bringing mobile phones from abroad has long been a popular method for buying new smartphones at a lower cost.

Keeping money in Bangladesh's banking system to get more expensive as the excise duty on bank balances increased in the FY25.

The budget for FY25 has proposed to withdraw VAT on aircraft engine and spare parts of propellers at the import stage to support the growth of local aviation companies.

A 15% value-added tax (VAT) is expected to be placed on metro rail tickets after June 30.

Recruits will get pensions under the universal pension scheme in all government institutions that get pension benefits from July 1, 2025.

Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) has expressed shock and disappointment over the "unethical" provision in the newly announced budget that allows the whitening of black money disguised as undisclosed income.

The government on Thursday proposed offering a 1% import duty on 18 types of non-cotton fibre, down from 10%-31% to help the local textile millers to diversify their export basket.

Just days before the unveiling of the upcoming fiscal year's budget, the country's general inflation surged to a seven-month high of 9.89%, driven primarily by rising food prices.

The government on Thursday proposed a flat 1% customs duty on purified terephthalic acid (PTA) and mono-ethylene glycol (MEG) -- widely used at textile industry as polyester (synthetic) staple fiber (PSF) and pet chips (textile grade).

The government is optimistic that the nation's GDP will grow by 6.75% in the fiscal year 2024-25, nearly a percentage point higher than the current year's growth.

Finance Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali presented the proposed budget for the 2024-2025 fiscal year, totaling Tk797,000 crore (Tk7.97 trillion), in parliament on Thursday.

The government plans to construct 12 more expressways and 10 elevated expressways by 2041 to develop the communication sector of Bangladesh, Finance Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali has said.

In the proposed budget of FY25, the finance minister said that the tax for the service of selling lottery tickets in the bazaar market shall increase.

Government has proposed a raise in allocation in the education sector in the budget for the next fiscal year compared to the allocation in the outgoing fiscal year.

The rate of mobile talk time may increase in the proposed national budget for the 2024-25 fiscal year.

In the Bangladesh National Budget for FY25, the government has proposed a 7.5% value-added tax (VAT) on air conditioners, marking a significant increase from the current 0%.

Finance Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali has said all cash-based social safety net programs will be brought under the Government-to-Person (G2P) system by the upcoming 2024-25 fiscal year.

The Ministry of Finance said that to make the budget more participatory, all the information and important documents of the budget will be available on the website of the Finance Division and the website of the National Board of Revenue.

The government, in its proposed budget for the fiscal year 2024-25 (FY25), has made it mandatory to show proof of income tax return submission (PSR) for holding any social event, including wedding ceremonies, in community centres.

Due to the rise in dengue cases in Bangladesh, the budget for the 2024-25 fiscal year includes a tax-free import facility for dengue test kits.

The price of materials used for the production of LED lights of bulbs and energy-saving lights is set to go up.

The duty on chocolate imports is reduced by 25%.

As the budget is set each year, the masses hope for the prices of daily necessities to decrease.

The price of powder milk may decrease in the proposed national budget for the 2024-25 fiscal year.

Prices of onions, ginger and garlic are expected to decrease as the proposed budget for FY25 reduces the source tax on these products from 2% to 1%.

The government has kept the existing minimum tax structure for people with taxable income in the three city corporations in Dhaka and Chittagong unchanged for FY25.

The government has proposed to raise tax and other duties on several products and services in Thursday's proposed national budget for fiscal year 2024-25 (FY25).

Finance Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali on Thursday proposed to remain unchanged the tax-free income limit to Tk3.5 lakh for individual taxpayers for FY25.

Finance Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali on Thursday announced that the Smart Bangladesh vision will be realized through the integration of cutting-edge technologies like artificial intelligence.

The VAT on refrigerators and freezers is set to rise from 5% to 7.5%. This change is expected to make these essential household appliances more expensive for consumers, especially during the hot summer months.

The prices of electricity meters, including prepaid ones, may increase as the national budget for fiscal year 2024-25 has proposed increasing the duty on their import.

The price of products used in kidney dialysis is set to fall soon.

Citizens of Bangladesh now have the opportunity to legalize their black money by paying a 15% tax for immovable properties.

In the 2024-25 fiscal year, laptops will become cheaper as the government has made some changes to the duty structure for imports.

Supplementary duty on internet usage on mobile phones has been increased in the proposed national budget for the 2024-25 fiscal year.

Soft drinks are set to become costlier as the government is imposing 5% more supplementary duty on carbonated beverages.

All sorts of ice creams are set to become costlier as the government is imposing 5% more supplementary duty on ice cream.

Entertainment and family excursions outside will become costlier as the government is imposing 7.5% more value added tax (VAT) on amusement and theme parks.

People may have to spend more for purchasing mobile phone connections or subscriber identity module (SIM) and eSIM from the next fiscal year as the government plans to increase supplementary duty on SIMs to 20% along with raising the value-added tax (VAT) to Tk300 for every eSIM.

Finance Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali has proposed an increase in the supplementary duty on cigarettes by 1%, bringing it to 66%.

Prices of shelled cashew nuts are likely to increase as the government has proposed increasing import duty and regulatory duty for the item in the national budget for fiscal year 2024-25.

Finance Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali on Thursday placed the Tk797,000 crore budget for the 2024-25 fiscal year in the parliament. The minister started unveiling his first budget at 3pm. This is the 54th budget of Bangladesh.