The size of the budget for fiscal year (FY) 2010-11 will be about Tk 1.30 trillion with the development of power and energy sector remaining high on the agenda, Finance Minister AMA Muhith said Sunday.
"The next budget will be Tk 1,300 billion in size and boosting up of energy and power sector will get the highest priority," Mr Muhith said at a pre-budget meeting with members of the Economic Reporters' Forum (ERF), led by its president Monowar Hossain, at the secretariat.
And the size of the government's annual development programme (ADP) will be as high as Tk 380 billion in the FY 2010-11 budget, he told the meeting.
He said the upcoming budget would target a 6.7 per cent growth of the country's GDP (gross domestic product) while keeping the rate of inflation at around 6.5 per cent.
The finance minister also reiterated that the country's GDP was expected to grow at the rate of 6.0 per cent for the current fiscal (2009-10).
Mr Muhith informed the economic reporters that the government would issue a statement next month, in which details of generation capacity, schedules on floatation of tenders, signing of agreements and production time of new power units would be made public.
"The statement will provide details of new power projects, especially, its tender schedules and timeframes on signing of deals and start of generation," he said.
Like the power projects, a similar statement will also be circulated on detail schedules of invitation of bids for exploration of natural gas from new fields and expected deadline for production, he observed.
The finance minister told the ERF members that solar panel will be installed on rooftop(s) of the secretariat building(s) by next year.
Mr Muhith also mentioned that the government has already decided to provide for solar panels and water harvesting systems in all the state-own offices.
On the shortage of natural gas, the finance minister said, "We will have to go for import of LNG (liquefied natural gas) in order to meet our short-term demand."
The finance minister's observations came after most of the ERF members pointed at the prevailing power crisis as a major barrier to the country's trade, industrial and economic development.
They said very little progress on power and gas sectors has been perceptible even after the lapse of more than a year of the government taking office.
The ERF members suggested, among others, the government give special thrust on proper implementation of development projects, address the prevailing water, gas, power problems, device long-term solutions to the city's traffic congestion, widen social safety-net schemes and save river Buriganga from pollution in its upcoming budget.
When the finance minister's attention was drawn to the introduction of 'district budget,' he said: "We could not do it…The ministries concerned are yet to adapt necessary mechanism for implementing the proposed district budgets."
Bangladesh Bank Governor Atiur Rahaman, Finance Secretary Muhammad Tareq, ERD Secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan, and senior officials of finance ministry and National Board of Revenue (NBR) were present at the meeting.
