Speakers in a discussion on Sunday placed emphasis on establishing good governance, curbing corruption, and reducing the wastage of public money to take the budgetary benefits to targeted groups.
They also wanted the optimisation of the institutional capacity of the key government entities, ensuring quality education, and stopping child marriage for proper utilisation of public money.
Expressing worries over persistent inflation and growing debt payments, the speakers said that the current economic downturn could not be overcome without stopping capital flight and checking syndicates responsible for the high inflation that had been punishing the majority of people for almost two years.
Citizen鈥檚 Platform for SDGs, Bangladesh, arranged the discussion titled 鈥楴ew Government, National Budget, and Citizens鈥� Aspirations鈥� in the city.
The deputy leader of the opposition in parliament, Anisul Islam Mahmud, former planning minister MA Mannan, independent parliament member AK Azad, former caretaker adviser Rasheda K Chowdhury, and Centre for Policy Dialogue distinguished fellow Mustafizur Rahman took part in the discussion moderated by CPD executive director Fahmida Khatun.
The convener of Citizen鈥檚 Platform for SDGs, Debapriya Bhattacharya, a distinguished fellow of CPD, presented the keynote paper, highlighting a survey reflecting the expectations of marginal communities of the national budget.
Debapriya said that the new finance minister was facing triangular challenges amid high inflation, growing debt payments, and a slowdown in economic activities.
He said that inflation had come down in other countries, but persisted here.
The government is under pressure from arrears worth around $5 billion while growth in gross domestic product faltered to 3.7 per cent in the second quarter of the current FY24, he said.
Demanding an allocation of around 8 per cent of GDP聽聽 for the education, health, and social safety net programme, Debapriya suggested preparing a separate database for beneficiaries under the safety net programme.
AK Azad welcomed the demand for higher allocations but stressed the need to ensure quality education.
He also demanded stopping child marriage and ensuring accountability of ministries and divisions for curbing corruption.
Mustafizur Rahman added that intuitional capacity should be restored to check corruption and misuse of public funds while supporting the high demand for budgetary allocation for education.
Rasheda K Chwowhury wanted the arrangement of a midday meal for school students and the bringing of a section of madrassah education under government monitoring.
Cursing Dhaka and Chattogram-centric development, MA Mannan wants the authorities to stop the waste of public funds.
He said that good governance was imperative for sustainable development and the optimisation of the bureaucracy.
CPD should identify the inherent weaknesses that force the government to do the same thing again and again, he said.
In his speech, Anisul Islam Mahmud blamed the lack of good governance for capital flight and the price hikes for essentials.
Criticising Bangladesh Bank for taking the banking sector into an abysmal position, he asked who was going to pay for the toxic assets in the banking sector.
He also wondered if culprits in the banking sector would be brought to justice.
In her opening speech, Fahmida Khatun said that income inequality has been growing, undermining the country鈥檚 high GDP growth.
Debapriya revealed that measures for decent employment in the upcoming budget received the highest response among 14 areas in an online survey made by the platform.
About 21 per cent, out of 2,249 responses collected through Google and 8,048 from social media, wanted sufficient fiscal measures to curb the unemployment problem.
Education (17.51 per cent), social protection (12.09 per cent), an inclusive society (8.03 per cent) and skill development (7.6 per cent) are the other top areas.
Commodity prices, agriculture, women鈥檚 empowerment, health, governance, infrastructure, children, housing and rehabilitation, and climate change are among other areas.
