Bangladesh eyes record 51-bln-USD 2017-18 fiscal budget

Bangladeshi Finance Minister AMA Muhith has said the government will request a record 4.20 trillion taka (around 51 billion U.S. dollars) national budget for the next 2017-18 fiscal year beginning in July.

"We'll formulate about 4.20 trillion taka national budget for the 2017-18 fiscal year (July 2017-June 2018)," Muhith told journalists Sunday shortly after emerging from this year's first pre-budget discussion meeting with leading economists.

But the minister did not elaborate on his 9th budget in a row.

The number of Bangladesh's national budgets presented by Muhith already stood at 8th, which is the highest for any finance minister of the country.

However, the country's 46th fiscal year budget is expected to be unveiled in parliament in the first week of June.

The Bangladeshi parliament on June 30 last year passed 3.41 trillion taka (42.58 billion U.S. dollars) national budget for the outgoing 2016-17 fiscal year (July 2016-June 2017), targeting an economic growth of 7.2 percent.

Muhith submitted the proposed 3,406.05 billion taka budget for the current fiscal year, which was up by nearly 16 percent over that of the original budget of the previous fiscal year 2015-16 (July 2015-June 2016). Endit