BSS, Dhaka

Finance Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury is set to place his maiden national budget for the fiscal year FY27 in the Jatiya Sangsad tomorrow (Thursday), aiming to advance Bangladesh’s transition towards a more investment-driven and “trillion-dollar economy” through higher growth targets, regulatory reforms and expanded fiscal measures.

The total outlay of the budget is likely to be set at Tk 9.38 lakh crore, the largest national budget in the country’s history.

This will be the first budget of the BNP government this time following a landslide victory in parliamentary election held on February 12 this year. A BNP-led government had last presented its national budget for the fiscal year 2006-‘07 under then Finance Minister M Saifur Rahman.

According to Finance Division officials, the budget is being prepared under the broad theme of “Economic Democratization and Deregulation: Bangladesh’s Journey Towards a Trillion-Dollar Economy.”

The budget is set to place strong emphasis on human resource development aligning with its “Bangladesh First” vision. The budget prioritizes education, health, employment, social protection, and entrepreneurship to build long-term economic capacity and foster a modern, knowledge-based, and inclusive economy.

The budgetary allocation shifts focus away from physical infrastructure towards human capital development, with the highest allocations in education and health sectors.

The probable key highlights of the budget are: high education and health sector allocation, entrepreneurship development fund: Tk 225 crore, SME entrepreneurship fund: Tk 2,000 crore, possible partial implementation of the new pay scale for the public servants, possible introduction of an “E-Health Card” programme for 2.5 million citizens aiming to strengthen universal health coverage through digitalization of health services, allocations in different social safety net programmes including in farmer cards, family cards, and a target of creation of overseas employment opportunities for 10 million people.

Besides, the government has put an emphasis on creative economic activities to keep the country’s youth away from drugs, terrorism, and extremism. As part of this, an allocation of Tk 300 crore is likely to be set aside in the upcoming national budget.

Officials said the budget reflects the government’s electoral commitments and the future demand of the economy.

The next budget is being described as a shift toward human capital–driven growth, aiming to support a knowledge-based economy and expand employment opportunities both at home and abroad.