It’s a cruel budget, attempt to suck people’s blood: Khaleda

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia today said the government has attempted to suck the last drop of blood of people through the proposed national budget for FY 2017-18.

“A cruel budget is a final attempt by the usurpers to squeeze the last drop of blood from the people. Resistance is the only way out”, Khaleda tweeted this afternoon, a day after Finance Minister AMA Muhith unveiled Tk 4,00,266 crore proposed budget for the fiscal 2017-18.

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The former prime minister also underscored the need for enforcing resistance against the proposed budget and said, “Resistance is the only way out.”

Earlier in the day, BNP Standing Committee Member Moudud Ahmed said that despite being huge in size, the budget will bring no good for the common people.

 “There is a huge tax burden on people in the budget,” Moudud said at a discussion organised by Bangladesh Youth Forum at National Press Club.

The budget is like a “big beautiful balloon”, striking from outside, but essentially empty on the inside, he said. 

The BNP leader said the budget proposed for fiscal year 2017-18 will only serve the high income group. When the size of the budget is big, the option for corruption also increases, he added.

Moudud said, “It is a big question whether the unelected government has any right to place such a budget.”

Mentioning that the budget allocates more in the non-development sector than the development sector, the former law minister said this budget could not be a people’s budget. “There is a deficit of Tk 1, 12,000 crore in the budget.”

Criticizing the excise duty on bank accounts, Moudud said, “In last two years around Tk 34,000 crore was smuggled abroad. In such a situation, imposing excise duty on bank accounts will discourage people from depositing money in banks. The government is inspiring people to smuggle money abroad through this. It is a suicidal proposal.”

He said there is no specific guideline for curbing corruption which is a big hole in the budget.