Prioritise people’s lives, livelihoods instead of growth in budget: Fakhrul says

BNP today called upon the government to prioritise people's lives and livelihoods in the context of the coronavirus pandemic over economic growth in the national budget for the 2020-21 fiscal. 

Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, secretary general of BNP, made the call during a virtual press conference from his Uttara house ahead of the national budget session in parliament on Thursday.

"There is no way to recover the economic growth unless we can contain the spread of coronavirus," the BNP leader said.

He also placed a 13-point recommendation putting importance on health, agriculture, social security and labour welfare and urged the government to pass the national budget for the next fiscal in light of the proposals.

Fakhrul said the national budget will have to be formulated keeping a three-year recovery plan to boost the country's economic growth.

He said his party on April 4 proposed a financial package of Tk 87,000 crore to fight the spread of coronavirus in the country and urged the government to take the proposal as a primary basis of formulating the national budget.

The Parliament Secretariat Commission yesterday approved a Tk 335.34 crore budget to spend on development and non-development expenditures for the next fiscal year.

The approval was given at the 31st meeting of the Commission held at the JatiyaSangsadBhaban with Speaker DrShirinSharminChaudhury in the chair.

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal will place the national budget before the parliament on Thursday.