Archive for June 10th, 2008
Tuesday, June 10th, 2008More than a budget document that addresses three key areas for any economy inflation, growth and employment the finance adviser yesterday unveiled a plan that smacks of social charity.It is a short-term full-hearted programme to cast the social safety net wide, which was necessary for the present day crisis. In non-development expenditure, the adviser plans Tk 16,932 crore for social safety net, Tk 13,648 crore for subsidies and Tk 10,253 crore for salaries of teachers and doctors. But in doing so he misses many other exigencies and leaves unexplained areas like how to feed the furnace of such a high ...
(read more) Tuesday, June 10th, 2008Detained former premier also Awami League (AL) President Sheikh Hasina is finally set to leave the country 'for better treatment', after different courts yesterday removed all legal barriers to her departure by accepting her petitions for staying absent at court proceedings in four separate cases against her.Highly placed sources told The Daily Star last night that there is a high possibility of Hasina leaving the country sometime on June 12, after being temporarily released through government executive orders.Meanwhile sources in Hasina's family said a special flight of Singapore Airlines has already been arranged to fly the eldest daughter ...
(read more) Tuesday, June 10th, 2008The caretaker government has increased the allocation for social safety net by 48 percent, introducing the first ever employment guarantee scheme worth Tk 2,000 crore, in the proposed new budget.The total outlay for social safety net in the new proposed budget has been set atTk 16,932 crore or 2.8 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) while the allocation stands at Tk 11,467 crore or 2.1 percent of GDP in the revised budget of the current fiscal.Finance Adviser Mirza Azizul Islam disclosed the new social safety net allocation yesterday during his televised budget speech.The new budget has also included ...
(read more) Tuesday, June 10th, 2008The government yesterday proposed an expansionary budget of Tk 99,962 crore for the next fiscal year (FY09), which is 26 percent bigger than that of FY08 with big outlays for social safety nets, subsidies, interest payments and block allocation.In the proposed budget, non-development expenditure has received a 38 percent boost while in a rare move the government has cut development expenditure by 3.39 percent.To pay for the big spending spree, the government has pushed up revenue target to Tk 69,362 crore, which is 21 percent higher than the target in the original budget of FY2007-08.But, a large deficit of Tk ...
(read more) Tuesday, June 10th, 2008For the last few months, Abidur Rahman, breadwinner in a four-member family, was struggling hard to make ends meet as the prices of everything continued skyrocketing.He was left with a hope that the new budget would somehow remove the pressure off his shoulder. On the budget day yesterday, he was patiently sitting before the TV set to hear the finance adviser's speech.The budget speech however came as an utter frustration for him as there was only one "cut" to be enjoyed by Rahman, a private service holder, representing millions of fixed-income middle class people.He nearly went bonkers to hear ...
(read more) Tuesday, June 10th, 2008The proposed budget for fiscal 2008-09 contains several measures to boost agriculture sector, including raising direct cash subsidy to farmers using diesel-powered irrigation pumps to Tk 540 crore from Tk 250 crore this year, and tax-holiday for agro-processing industries.The finance adviser in his budget speech also proposed keeping Tk 2 lakh to Tk 2.15 lakh as tax-free income for persons having only agricultural income. Besides, he proposed tax exemption for farms engaged in various agri-sub sectors such as fisheries, poultry, cattle breeding and dairy.On agri-credit, the proposed budget has set a target of disbursing Tk 9,000 crore, eight percent ...
(read more) Tuesday, June 10th, 2008The government will provide 30 lakh tonnes of wheat and rice as well as income support to the most vulnerable groups and rely heavily on bumper harvest to protect fixed and low-income groups from the apprehended rise in food prices in FY09.Finance Adviser Mirza Azizul Islam yesterday announced the new budget with plans to stave off the food insecurity. He however failed to present any concrete measures how to rein in soaring prices of essentials that have financially crippled the middle and low-income groups.The adviser said the government plans to procure 32 lakh tonnes of food grains throughEssentials to stay ...
(read more) Tuesday, June 10th, 2008The proposed budget seeks short-term solutions to the economic malaise arising from adverse developments on many fronts, said economist Wahiduddin Mahmud.It represents the expected response of an interim government to a situation of widespread food insecurity and an environment of political and economic uncertainty, he said.”Moreover, many issues of budgetary policy remain un-addressed, or are only tentatively addressed, in the context of uncertainty regarding international fuel and food prices and domestic inflation and food supply situation," he said.Commenting on the proposed budget for the fiscal year 2009, he said, "In spite of the large size of the proposed budget, the ...
(read more) Tuesday, June 10th, 2008A special court yesterday turned down petitions for bail and overseas treatment of the BNP's detained Senior Joint Secretary General Tarique Rahman and asked the authorities to arrange his proper treatment inside the country as per the jail code.The court also deferred the hearing of charge framing in the Tk 21 crore bribery case against Tarique, former state minister for home affairs Lutfozzaman Babar and six other people till June 15.Judge Shahed Noor Uddin of the Special Court-3 at Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban complex gave the ruling after the defence submitted three petitions before the court, seeking Tarique's bail, his treatment ...
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