Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, main opposition in parliament, on Friday termed the national budget for the financial year 2026-27 as highly ambitious, dependent on loan, and would be difficult to implement it.
‘The budget falls short of public expectations and will ultimately encourage corrupt people and looters and undermine investment and employment,’ said Mia Golam Parwar, secretary-general of the party, at a press conference on budget reaction at its central office of Moghbazar in Dhaka.
Mentioning that finance minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury has placed the budget of Tk 9.38 lakh crore for the fiscal year 2026–27, Golam Parwar said, ‘But, how the revenue of Tk 6.29 lakh crore will be collected is unclear.’
It is also unclear from which sources, the deficit of Tk 2 lakh 36 thousand 250 crore will be met, said Parwar, adding, ‘If the deficit will be met with bank loans, it will bring more crisis.’
Noting that the money of the people was wasted in the name of implementing development projects in the previous years, the Jamaat leader said, ‘The annual development plan has once again been turned into a tool for corruption and looting.’
He said that the proposed tax measures would increase pressure on lower-middle and middle-income groups, mentioning that higher VAT on LPG and increased duties on industrial raw materials would further raise production costs and fuel inflation.
‘We strongly condemn this anti-people budget. The people will not accept such an arbitrary budget,’ said Parwar, demanding that this unrealistic, overly ambitious and looter-friendly budget be revised immediately and replaced with an investment-friendly and welfare-oriented one.
Golam Parwar said that it would be difficult for the Bangladesh National Party government to implement the budget and to check corruptions and the looters.
He called on the government to revise the proposed budget and make it pro-people, implementing the spirits of the July uprising.
