Government to Announce Budget at 3PM Today
Finance Adviser Dr Salehuddin Ahmed is scheduled to present the national budget for the fiscal year 2025–26 on Monday afternoon. According to an official handout issued on Sunday, the pre-recorded budget speech will now be broadcast at 3:00 pm—an hour earlier than the previously scheduled 4:00 pm—on Bangladesh Television (BTV) and Bangladesh Betar.
In addition, all private television channels and radio stations have been requested to air the budget speech simultaneously by taking the feed from BTV, in order to ensure wider coverage of the national budget. According to relevant sources, the Finance Adviser may present a budget of Tk 790,000 crore for the fiscal year 2025–26. The revenue collection target in this budget is likely to be set at Tk 564,000 crore. Of this, the National Board of Revenue (NBR) may be tasked with collecting Tk 499,000 crore. The target for non-NBR revenue income may be set at Tk 19,000 crore, while non-tax revenue collection is expected to target Tk 46,000 crore.
In the new fiscal year, non-development expenditure is estimated at Tk 486,900 crore, while the Annual Development Programme (ADP) may be set at Tk 230,000 crore. The budget deficit is projected to be Tk 226,000 crore. To bridge this gap, the government may aim to borrow Tk 121,000 crore from domestic sources and Tk 105,000 crore from foreign sources. The upcoming budget may project a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate of 5.5 percent, while the Finance Adviser is expected to express hope of bringing down inflation to 6.5 percent.
