Hailing the government for the highest allocation to the health sector in the budget for the year 2020-2021, economists have said transparency and accountability must be ensured to implement the budget in a proper way.
They also stressed increasing capabilities of the officials of the health sector along with those in the other sectors for the further development of their respective sectors and ensure the highest utilization of the allocated amount.
In a post-budget reaction titled “Budget Review for the Fiscal Year 2020-21” organized by South Asian Network on Economic Modeling (SANEM) through video conferencing, its executive director Dr. Selim Raihan made these comments on Saturday.
The attendees included Dr Sayema Haque Bidisha, Professor, Department of Economics, University of Dhaka and Research Director, SANEM, Mahtab Uddin, Lecturer, Department of Economics, University of Dhaka and Research Fellow, SANEM, and Eshrat Sharmin, Research Associate, SANEM among others joined the webinar through the video conferencing app ZOOM.
He said, “The health sector has never had such kind of huge allocation before. To implement the allocation, a separate guideline for the ministry should be formulated, and expenditure should be made transparent for the further development of the sector”.
At the same time, he emphasized the importance of political willingness for the development of the health sector which has transformed the country’s agriculture and power sectors.
“We have a lack of preparation and mismanagement is prevailing everywhere in the health sector, which needs to be identified immediately to ensure health service for all. This sector needs to be streamlined”, he added.
Thanking the government for increasing the tax-free income ceiling to Taka 3 lakh, Dr Selim Raihan said, “Tax-free income limit increase will bring relief among the middle and lower income people, but in the proposed budget there is no plan for those groups, that may bring more relief among them in the pandemic situation”.
However, Dr. Raihan said, certain provisions in the budget indicate inconsistencies in facts and data, this should be dealt with cautiously as incorrect assessment can lead to overconfidence and wrong policy choice.
The new-poor have not been addressed in the budget and in this regard measures like cash assistance, food distribution and unemployment benefits should have been incorporated.
Referring to the whitening of black money, Dr. Raihan said that while this measure has not been effective in the past, it discourages honest people. Also, whether such provisions are in line with the Constitution is a question.
He further explained that the budget focuses on the RMG sector too much while other export-oriented sectors have not been given importance in the same manner. Reflecting on the crises of the banking sector, Dr. Raihan remarked that the banking sector faces the pressure of partially financing both the stimulus packages and the budget.
Discussing the shock to the remittance inflow, Dr. Raihan said it is a possibility that as soon as international flights commence Bangladeshi immigrant workers might be sent back home, in the same fashion as in the time of the Gulf War of 1991.
Dr. Sayema Haque Bidisha said that the budget does not address the floating urban poor and the measures taken for youth and SMEs are not enough. Bureaucratic complications often stand in the way of these measures, which should be taken into consideration.
She said that despite incentives and stimulus packages for the RMG sector, workers have been laid off. The budget does not contain specific and definite measures for women, especially for those distressed by the current crisis.