Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami secretary general Mia Golam Parwar has said the proposed 2026-27 budget will become the final obstacle on Bangladesh’s path to graduating from a least-developed country to a developed one. He called on the government to revise the budget.
Golam Parwar made the remarks Friday at a news conference on the party’s response to the budget proposal, held at Jamaat’s central office in Moghbazar in the capital.
The Jamaat secretary general said deficit budgets are nothing new for a developing country like Bangladesh, but this time the size of the deficit had reached the highest level in history. “A deficit budget of about Tk 2,36,450 crore — where will it be met from?” he said.
He added: “To meet the spending of such a large deficit budget, bank loans will be taken, and that will automatically reduce our investment and private investment.”
This will hamper employment and have a negative impact on the wider economy, Mia Golam Parwar said.
The Jamaat secretary general alleged that the government had failed to show any realistic framework for collecting revenue. He said: “A deficit budget of about Tk 2,36,450 crore — where will the deficit be met from? Given the sources shown, the tax structure needed to raise revenue and a corruption-free tax administration — there is nothing of that.”
Criticizing the increase in taxes, the Jamaat leader said that through wordplay they had said the tax base was being widened. In reality, he said, by creating a web of taxes they had tried, through clever use of language, to sidestep the pressure on citizens’ lives that comes from raising taxes.
Questioning the GDP growth target, Mia Golam Parwar said the IMF and various international institutions had put their GDP growth forecasts below 5 percent. He described the government’s growth target of 6.5 percent as “empty talk” and a “flashy decision.”
The Jamaat secretary general said: “We strongly protest the creation of opportunities for corruption and plunder in the name of the ADP.”
He alleged that money for development projects is divided up at various stages, and genuine development is hampered.
Mia Golam Parwar said the government’s declared inflation target was also out of step with reality. Because of rising fuel and essential-goods prices, inflation would climb further in the coming fiscal year, he said.
At the news conference, the secretary general also outlined various aspects of Jamaat’s proposed shadow budget. He said Jamaat had proposed an alternative budget of Tk 8,39,505 crore, in which the budget deficit and dependence on foreign loans were kept comparatively low.
Golam Parwar said Jamaat had proposed raising the tax-free income threshold to Tk 4,05,000 and planned to raise it to Tk 5,00,000 in the future. It also proposed switching from a July-June fiscal year to a January-December calendar-based fiscal year.
Expressing concern over the banking sector, Mia Golam Parwar alleged: “Through the Bank Resolution Act, plunder is taking place and black money is being laundered abroad.” He also criticized the government over the ownership and management of Islami Bank.
Calling on the government, the Jamaat secretary general said it must “draw up an investment-friendly, welfare-oriented budget” by revising the “unrealistic, overambitious and plunder-enabling budget.” He also urged constructive discussion in parliament and acceptance of opposition proposals.
Also present at the news conference were Jamaat assistant secretaries general Hamidur Rahman Azad and Abdul Halim, and Dhaka metropolitan north secretary Rezaul Karim.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report