The national budget for the 2025–26 financial year has failed to address Bangladesh’s public demand for reliable access to power and energy and necessary energy transition, said experts at a discussion organised by the Centre for Policy Dialogue on Thursday.
Criticising the interim government, they said that the budget allocation for the power and energy sector was inadequate, conservative and inconsistent with the government’s stated goals of achieving ‘zero poverty, zero carbon emissions and zero unemployment’.
The local think tank hosted the dialogue at the Brac Centre Inn in the capital Dhaka. The event brought together energy experts and business leaders.
The FY26 budget was approved on June 22 by the interim government that assumed office on August 8, 2024, after the fall of the authoritarian Awami League regime on August 5 in a mass uprising.
A CPD research team said that the interim government allocated Tk 22,520 crore to the power, energy and mineral resources ministry.
Though the operating budget of the ministry increased by 15.38 per cent compared with that in the previous financial year, the development budget decreased by one per cent, the research team said.
Representing the research team, CPD senior research associate Helen Mashiyat Preoty said that the country’s power and energy sector faced eight persistent challenges, including a severe supply crisis affecting both households and industries, financial losses and a lack of investment in renewable energy.
She said that despite efforts to attract investments for projected 5,238 megawatt power from green energy, the interim government received a very poor response from bidders.
Soon after the interim government took office, the withdrawal of 37 letters of intent sent a negative signal to the potential investors, Helen said.
The F26 budget barely addresses the challenges faced in solar-based power generation and has not allocated enough fund for the renewable energy expansion, she added.
Energy expert Monwar Mostafa, also the programme lead at Tara Climate Foundation, said that the budget ignored carbon reduction strategies.
Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association director Faisal Samad and Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association vice-president Akhter Hossain Apurbo shared their grievances, saying that the industries were struggling with unreliable energy supplies despite higher tariffs.
Akhter said that the knitting factories were experiencing production losses heavily because of the gas and power supply crisis. Faisal said, ‘The new budget is highly disappointing for the industry.’
Professor Shamsul Alam, energy adviser to the Consumers Association of Bangladesh, said that the interim government ignored public demand for power and energy while continuing the pro-oligarch energy policies executed by the ousted Awami League regime.
He lamented that flawed power policies kept punishing consumers and industries alike.
CPD research director Khondaker Golam Moazzem moderated the discussion also attended, among others, by Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission joint secretary Didarul Alam, agro-economist Jahangir Alam Khan, IEEFA lead analyst on energy for Bangladesh Shafiqul Alam and BRAC Institute of Governance and Development research fellow Rohini Kamal.
