DHAKA, Jun 29, 2020 (BSS) – Ruling party lawmaker and former agriculture minister Matia Chowdhury today said the proposed budget for 2020-21 will help to fight against COVID-19 pandemic and would revive the rural economy.
“The proposed national budget has focused the health sector in order to fight against the corona virus crisis and at the same time it will encourage the rural economy through creating employment”, the senior lawmaker said this in the budget session in the Jatiya Sangsad here with Speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin Chowdhury in the chair.
Participating in the budget discussion, the ruling party lawmaker said the proposed budget has been placed in an unusual time amid the deadly corona virus pandemic as it [pandemic] has created a disastrous situation throughout the world.
Terming the proposed budget as the life and livelihood budget, she said the budget has focused on the health, agriculture, social safety net and rural development.
” The government has allocated Taka 41,027 crore for health sector as the allocation proving that the government has given utmost importance for the sector”, said the former minister in her budget discussion.
The government has earmarked Taka 1,127 crore for COVID-19 emergency fund, she added. Terming the agriculture as the life-line of the economy, the former agriculture minister said the proposed budget has earmarked Taka 16,437 crore for agriculture sector, Taka 9,500 crore for agriculture subsidy and the steps will revitalize the rural employment.
In addition to this, the proposed budget also has increased the budget outlay for the social safety net as Taka 95,574 crore has earmarked for the sector which is 17 percent of the total budget outlay, said Matia.
On June 11, Finance minister AHM Mustafa Kamal placed a Taka 5,68,000 crore national budget for 2020-21 fiscal year at the Jatiya Sangsad with a target of attaining 8.2 percent GDP growth through continuing the momentum of the economy with all required economic activities after tackling the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.
Earlier, the lawmakers paid rich tributes to Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and most of his family members who were assassinated on August 15, 1975 and all martyred during the War of Liberation in 1971.