Bangladeshi Parliament passes national budget

The Bangladeshi Parliament on Sunday passed a record 2.22-trillion-taka (about 28.50 billion U.S. dollars) national budget for next 2013-14 fiscal year beginning from July 1 this year. Bangladeshi Finance Minister AMA Muhith on June 6 placed the proposed budget, which is nearly 16 percent over that of the original budget of the outgoing fiscal year 2012-13 (July 2012- June 2013). On the expenditure side, Muhith in his budget speech in parliament said that the size of Annual Development Program for the next fiscal year will be 658.70-billion-taka (8.44 billion dollars) with power and communications sectors getting the biggest chunk of money.  "It is projected in the framework that our economic growth will be 7.2 percent in the next fiscal year," he said. Lawmakers from ex-Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's main opposition party staged a brief walkout before the passage of the national budget by voice votes. Although Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's ruling Awami League party welcomed the budget, terming it a pro-people one that will help boost development in the country, her arch rival Khaleda's Bangladesh Nationalist Party rejected it, saying it's "partisan and pro-election budget" with wrong and confusing information and financing the budget would be clouded with uncertainties.