Dhaka - Bangladesh's Finance Minister Thursday announced a 16-billion-dollar budget for the 2009-10 fiscal year, aiming for higher spending on employment and social safety to keep economic growth going amid the global recession. "Our entrepreneurs should be able to use the incentives offered in this budget under the direct and indirect taxation proposals to create an enabling ground for investment and employment creation," Abul Maal Abdul Muhith said then presenting the budget at parliament.
The first budget of the Awami League-led alliance government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed, who assumed office in January after a two-year rule of a military-backed government, aimed at fulfilling election pledges regarding the farming and energy sectors, as well as poverty reduction and women's empowerment.
The government also pledged to create jobs, raise civil servants' pay and adopt extra measures to cope with the financial downturn.
In his budget speech the minister also announced for the first time public-private partnerships aimed at improving the country's infrastructure.
Lawmakers of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party and its allies stayed away from the budget speech, continuing their boycott of parliamentary proceedings over seating arrangements inside the House since the beginning of the session on June 6.
Muhtith also said the government was to go ahead with a stimulus package, which includes incentives for several export-oriented sectors, as the global downturn showed some effects on Bangladesh's impoverished economy.
The minister projected a 6 per-cent gross domestic product growth in the fiscal year beginning on July 1.
Around 30 per cent of the total budget outlay will be met by borrowing, against a modest revenue target of 11.59 billion dollars, which experts said was the biggest challenge for implementing the measures proposed in the budget.
