‘We did not frame budget in line with IMF prescriptions’

The government has not framed the national budget for the fiscal year of 2023-24 based on the prescription of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), said Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal today.

"The IMF has given an overall prescription. We will accept the portion of it that we need to accept. The rest we will implement on our own," said Kamal while responding to a question at a post-budget press conference at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre this afternoon.

The minister, yesterday at the parliament, unveiled a Tk 7,61,785 crore national budget for 2023-24.

Earlier in the day, the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), at a press briefing, said the shadow of IMF conditionalities, although not explicitly mentioned in the budget speech or other documents for FY24, is visible.

It said one of the reform suggestions of the IMF was the adoption of a periodic formula-based price adjustment mechanism for petroleum products within December 2023.  There is a mention in the budget speech that a road map is being formulated.

In his budget speech, Kamal said already, the price of electricity, gas and fuel has been increased to reduce the subsidy expenditure.

"Besides, a road map is being formulated to establish a permanent system of formula-based price adjustment in the energy sector. We hope to finalise the formula-based price adjustment system by September this year," he said.

He said the total subsidy will gradually decrease in the medium term following the recent price increases and the implementation of the upcoming adjustment mechanism.

The IMF, which approved a $4.7 billion loan for Bangladesh in January, suggested the government reduce subsidies to reduce pressure on its balance sheet.