NCP describes proposed budget as ‘ambitious, fiscally unrealistic’

The National Citizen Party (NCP) on Thursday dismissed the government’s proposed Tk 9.38 trillion budget for fiscal year 2026-27 as overly ambitious and detached from economic reality, warning that the actual deficit could be nearly double the official figure.

Reacting to the budget placed before parliament by Finance Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury, NCP’s Shadow Budget Committee chief and joint convener Atik Mujahid said the stated deficit of around Tk 2.5 trillion masked a far graver fiscal picture, reports UNB.

“The actual deficit could approach Tk 4.5 trillion,” Mujahid said, adding that the revenue collection target of Tk 6.95 trillion, equivalent to 10.2 percent of GDP, was simply unattainable under present economic conditions. “I believe the revenue shortfall alone could exceed Tk 2 trillion.”

While acknowledging that the proposed outlay is the largest in Bangladesh’s history, NCP argued it may equally go down as the country’s biggest deficit budget in real terms.

The budget, tabled Thursday in the Jatiya Sangsad, projects total expenditure at 13.7 percent of GDP, up by Tk 1.48 trillion from the previous fiscal year. Development spending stands at Tk 3.16 trillion, including Tk 3 trillion under the Annual Development Programme, while non-development and other expenditures are pegged at Tk 6.21 trillion.

Revenue income is projected at Tk 6.95 trillion, of which Tk 6.04 trillion is to come through the National Board of Revenue and Tk 910 billion (Tk 91,000 crore) from other sources.