With spending running ahead of revenue income, the government’s borrowing requirement has risen at the very start of the new financial year. In the first 13 days of the current financial year the government took a net 9,209 crore taka in loans from the banking sector. The government’s total stock of borrowing from the banking sector now stands at 6 lakh 94 thousand 684 crore taka.
Those connected with the sector say the revenue income target set in each financial year is never fully achieved, so the government has to depend on borrowing. Foreign loans are not currently being received as expected, so the government’s financing needs are being met by borrowing from banks.
In the first 13 days of the current financial year the government borrowed 5 thousand 414 crore taka from Bangladesh Bank. In the same period of last financial year the government’s position with the central bank was negative 4 thousand 608 crore taka. A further 3 thousand 795 crore taka was taken from commercial banks, against 6 thousand 112 crore taka in the same period of last financial year. The government’s stock of borrowing from the central bank now stands at 99 thousand 467 crore taka and from commercial banks at 5 lakh 95 thousand 219 crore taka.
The former chief economist of Bangladesh Bank, Dr Mustafa K Mujeri, said government spending is set on the basis of the revenue income target in the budget. In reality, however, revenue collection falls far short of expectations, so the government has to take additional loans from banks to meet its spending.
In the last financial year the government borrowed 30 thousand 571 crore taka more from banks than the target it had set. Although the original 2025-26 budget set a target of borrowing 1 lakh 4 thousand crore taka from the banking sector, the revised budget later raised it to 1 lakh 18 thousand crore taka. Over the full financial year the government borrowed a total of 1 lakh 34 thousand 571 crore taka from the banking sector.
For the current financial year, the government has set a target of borrowing 1 lakh 12 thousand crore taka from the banking sector.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report