Dhaka – Finance Minister AMA Muhith proposed on Thursday the biggest-ever national budget for fiscal year 2017-18 of Tk 400266 crore saying he is placing this budget at a ‘historic juncture’ of economic development.
“Time is ours, time is for Bangladesh,” said the Finance Minister in his budget speech amid table thumping by his colleagues.
With the general election scheduled to be held in FY 2018-19, the next budget will have few initiatives or prospects for opening “new horizons”.
The Finance Minister in his 11th budget at the House, proposed a single and uniform VAT rate of 15 percent for next three years in the new budget.
He said the GDP growth rate will be 7.4 per cent in FY 2017-18 and inflation will come down to 5.5 per cent by the end of the fiscal year. -UNB
