The opposition has described the passed 2026-2027 fiscal year budget as “unplanned, non-transparent, and unimplementable,” though it expressed satisfaction that the government accepted several of its demands, including scrapping the whitening black money facility.
Speaking to journalists on the Parliament premises on Tuesday after the budget was passed, opposition MP Nazibur Rahman said, “We voted against the budget because, in one word, this budget is unplanned, non-transparent, and unimplementable. However, due to our strong stance, the government has amended some anti-people provisions.”
The opposition MP noted that the government withdrew the tax on grocery shops, removed the housing sectorc black money whitening provision at the prime minister’s request, raised the tax-free income limit to Tk4 lakh, and scrapped a provision allowing bank defaulters to reclaim ownership.
Raising concerns about the fragile banking sector, Nazibur Rahman said, “The biggest obstacle to economic recovery is the banking sector. The government is printing money to lend to banks – around Tk90,000 to Tk1 lakh crore has been printed. There is no clear plan for how the government will borrow Tk1,12,000 crore from banks under such circumstances.”
He called the 7.5 per cent inflation target unrealistic, saying, “With money being printed and the private sector entirely dependent on bank loans, we have received no satisfactory answer on how inflation will come down to 7 per cent.”
The opposition MP said there is no specific allocation in the budget for implementing the July Charter beyond some allowances for the killed and injured. “This is a major weakness of the budget,” he said.
Criticising the rush in passing laws, Nazibur Rahman said the ‘Gambling Prevention Act, 2026’ was passed unanimously but the provision allowing police to seize servers or computers without court permission remains objectionable. “We wanted a magistrate’s permission requirement, similar to CrPC Section 253,” he said.
He said the government is not accepting any opposition proposals, making cut motions a mere formality. On judicial allocation, he called the budget “grossly inadequate” given 4.5 million pending cases.
Rejecting the government’s constitutional amendment plan, he said a 10-member reform committee with both government and opposition members would have been preferable, but the government did not respond. “We will not go along with this constitutional amendment proposal,” he added.
