Bangladesh Economic Association (BEA) on Monday said implementation of the budget proposed for fiscal 2013-2014 depends on effective handling of 14 issues that include giving a boost to foreign and private sector investment and bringing pace in ADP implementation with quality.The economic think thank, however, said the ultimate success depends on political stability, overall improvement in the law and order situation, effecting handling of graft-related issues and improvement in the energy sector.
“It won’t be impossible to achieve the proposed targets (on various sectors) if there’s no major deviation from the above favorable factors,” BEA general secretary Dr Towfique Ahmed Chowdhury said.
He came up with the observations at a post-budget press conference at its conference room in the afternoon.
Dr Towfique read out a detailed paper at the press conference. Association president Dr Abul Barkat and other committee members were present.
Dr Towfique laid emphasis on releasing foreign aid and loan now in the pipeline, productive use of the remittance sent by expatriate Bangladeshis, adequate credit supply to the private sector from the banking sector, especially for the industrial sector, reducing dependence on the banking sector for addressing budget deficit and expansion of tax net for successful implementation of the proposed budget.
On black money issue, he said the size of the black money amount is about Tk 5 lakh to 7 lakh crore. “It’s true. The money should be recovered.
He said since the size of black money is huge its investment should be allowed in the infrastructure sector — roads, bridges and power plants and industrial sector -– with a set of tough conditions.
“The government can publish a whitepaper, and it can also form a commission. We hope there’ll be directives regarding the commission and whitepaper in the final budget,” Dr Towfique said.
He said the Finance Minister’s prescription for black money investment in the housing sector is not a good prescription. “For solving the housing sector crisis, it’s not a good prescription.”
