Rejaul Karim Byron

In circuses, whenever artists perform the tightrope walking stunt, underneath them are wide nets to prevent them from falling to the ground and avoiding potentially life-threatening injuries -- lest they lose their balance on the thin rope and falls over.

It is universally acknowledged that the global coronavirus pandemic has widened inequalities in nations all over -- including Bangladesh.

The troubled BASIC Bank is heading for a merger with the better-performing Bangladesh Development Bank Limited (BDBL) as part of the government’s efforts to improve the overall health of the country’s state banks, which have historically been sitting on a heavy pile of soured credit.

The World Bank yesterday upgraded Bangladesh’s GDP growth forecast for this fiscal year by 2 percentage points to 3.6 percent, making it the second best-performing economy in South Asia behind the Maldives.

Baffling -- is how one would describe the parliamentary session in which the Tk 13,987.3 crore supplementary budget for fiscal 2020-21 was passed.

The opportunity to whiten black money without any question from authorities regarding its source, which was offered by the government in the current fiscal year, is not going to continue the next fiscal year 2021-22.

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has stuck to his strategy of making higher allocation for the health sector to combat the pandemic, protect the poor and businesses, and speed up economic recovery.

Bangladesh’s currency swap agreement with Sri Lanka to replenish the island nation’s fast-depleting foreign reserves and ease pressure on its exchange rate will be completed by next month, according to a top official of Bangladesh Bank.

Today, Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal unveils his third budget, which coincidentally is the 50th fiscal plan of independent Bangladesh.

The government in last year’s budget gave priority to several crucial sectors to protect people and their livelihoods amid the pandemic, but it could not achieve the desired results due to the Covid second wave and hurdles in implementing its initiatives.

“Cuts, cuts, cuts!” -- would be the chorus of Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal’s third budget speech that he is due to deliver in the parliament tomorrow.

The allotment for other social protection programmes may go up to Tk 65,000 crore, up 41.47 percent year on year.

The Bangladesh economy has weathered the pandemic storm better than others and it is thanks to its citizens, said Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal.

With every passing year, the share of the budget going towards civil servants’ salary and allowance gets bigger. And the proposed budget for the incoming fiscal year, due to be unveiled in the parliament on June 3, is no different.

That Bangladesh is in a position to bail out Sri Lanka, a middle-income country by the World Bank’s classification since 1997, by extending up to $500 million -- is a nice lift to the country’s morale.

The government’s interest burden is set to get heavier in the incoming fiscal year, thanks to its inability to better choose from its financing options.

In a first for Bangladesh, the country has extended a lifeline of sorts to the beleaguered Sri Lankan economy, offering to top up the island nation’s depleting foreign reserves by as much as $500 million.

The cottage, micro, small and medium enterprises, who were among the worst hit for the pandemic, appears to have started seeing the stimulus funds of late after initial reluctance from banks in disbursing credit to the sector.

Making hay while the sun, it appears, is the finance ministry’s mantra as it goes about preparing the budget for fiscal 2021-22, its second in the backdrop of the extraordinary challenges thrown by the pandemic.

The government will continue to offer the scope for legalising undisclosed money in the upcoming budget, Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal said yesterday.