WB terms budget long on hopes, short on measures

Staff Correspondent: Terming the proposed national budget for the fiscal year 2017-18 an ambitious one, the World Bank (WB) has said it is ‘long on hopes, short on measures’.

“The budget has many good hopes and ambitions to increase the country's GDP by raising huge revenue through implementation of VAT law. But it lacks the specific actions, especially, necessary structural reforms in the financial sector,” said Zahid Hussain, the lead economist of the World Bank Dhaka office at a press conference on Tuesday.

WB's country director Qimiao Fan also spoke at the press conference.

Qimiao Fan also warned the government by saying that the implementation of the VAT Act 2012 was absolutely critical to meet the very ambitious fiscal targets set in the proposed budget.

The briefing was organised to highlight World Bank’s assessment on the proposed national budget for the next fiscal, unveiled by Finance Minister AMA Muhith on June 1, with an expected cost of Tk 4tn against revenues of Tk 2.93tn.


Risingbd/Dhaka/June 20, 2017/ Hasan/ Mukul