The size of the budget for the next fiscal year will be Tk 420,000 crore, up 23 percent from the current annual outlay.

Finance Minister AMA Muhith made the disclosure to reporters after holding a pre-budget discussion with the economists of Bangladesh Economic Association, the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, the Economic Research Group and the Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh at the Padma guest house in Dhaka yesterday.

“At first I decided to keep the size within Tk 400,000 crore but later I increased the size to implement my plans properly,” said the minister.  

The size of the existing budget is Tk 340,605 crore.

Muhith said GDP growth will surpass 7.2 percent by the current fiscal year and it will not come down below 7.5 percent in the future.

Every year, before placing the budget in parliament, the finance minister holds pre-budget discussions with various stakeholders, but very few of their recommendations are reflected in the budget, experts said.

Finance ministry officials also admitted that not many proposals are accommodated in the budget.