Budget proposal does not offer much to fight the pandemic: CPD

The proposed budget does not have much to offer in terms of concrete measures and innovative policies to combat Covid-19 induced challenges, said Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) today.

"Priority has been given to health, agriculture and employment generation sectors in the budget speech by Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal," said CPD Executive Director Fahmida Khatun at a media briefing in Dhaka today.

"However, actual allocation does not reflect these promises and they have not been supported by adequate resources," she added.

The independent think tank organised the media briefing to share its analysis on the Tk 6,03,680 crore national budget for fiscal year 2021-22 beginning from July.

With around 40 percent allocation for development expenditure, public services, education and technology, transport and communication and social security and welfare get higher share while share of sectors including health and agriculture is lower, said CPD at its briefing.

CPD Distinguished Fellow Prof Mustafizur Rahman, Research Director Khondaker Golam Moazzem and its Senior Research Fellow Towfiqul Islam Khan also spoke during the event.