The Head of the State authenticated the proposed national budget of over Taka 7.61 lakh crore for the next fiscal year (FY24) at his Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban office (parliament complex) at about 2.45pm.

Chairman of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) and Senior Secretary of Internal Resources Division (IRD) Abu Hena Md Rahmatul Muneem and Finance Division’s Senior Secretary Fatima Yasmin were present, among others.

This is the country’s 52nd budget and the 24th ones of the Awami League government in five terms. This budget for FY24 is the 5th consecutive budget of incumbent finance minister.

Earlier, on his arrival at the Sangsad Bhaban, Jatiya Sangsad Deputy Speaker Advocate Md Shamsul Hoque Tuku, Chief Whip Noor-E-Alam Chowdhury and Senior Secretary of Bangladesh Parliament Secretariat Md Ashraful Moqbul received the President.

On his first arrival in parliament after taking office on April 24, 2023 as the head of the state, Shahabuddin exchanged greetings with the officials and employees of the Jatiya Sangsad.

There might be decrease in the prices of different products and services, including sweets, raw materials for cancer medicines, homemade biscuits, cake, airplane engine, turbo engine, agriculture equipment, sanitary napkin, diaper, malaria and TB medicines, silicon tube, optical fibre cables, hot rolled steel and cold rolled steel.

On the other hand, price may increase in case of some products, including imported nuts, imported coffee, bicycle parts, dates, imported software, GI fittings, cylinder of high-end electric vehicle, E-cigarette, imported motorcycle, escalator, imported electric light fittings, nicotine or nicotine substitutes, imported microwave ovens, lifts, gold bars, tobacco products, adhesive/glue, cement, ball point pen, software, polypropylene film, LPG cylinder, mobile phone, plastic household products, tissue paper, aluminium utensils, microwave oven, refrigerator, washing machine, electric oven, juicer, blender, rice cooker, pressure cooker, printer, scanner, router, earphones, pen drive, SSD card, CCTV monitor, projector, digital watch, electric panel, processed foods, basmati rice, sunglasses, glass, facewash and titanium dioxide.

“I pledged to introduce a universal pension system in the budget speech for FY2022-23 following our election manifesto. That work has progressed substantially,” he said.

The minister said this while placing over Taka 7.61 lakh crore proposed national budget for FY23-24 at Jatiya Sangsad in the city.

Kamal said the ‘Universal Pension Management Act, 2023’ has already been passed by the Parliament.

“I hope, it will be possible to roll out the scheme from FY2023-24. Under the proposed scheme, a beneficiary can enjoy pension benefits subject to the payment of subscription up to the age of 60 years if s/he enrolls at the age between 18 to 50 years, whereas those who enroll at their age of more than 50 years have to pay subscription for a minimum of 10 years,” he added.

He said the expatriate Bangladeshi will be able to participate in this scheme. “If the pensioner dies before attaining the age of 75 years while on pension, the nominee of the pensioner will be entitled to the pension for the remaining period of the pensioner’s completion of 75 years. If the subscriber dies before paying the subscription for at least 10 years, the deposited money will be returned to the nominee along with the profit,” he added.

He mentioned that a maximum of 50 percent of the deposited amount can be withdrawn as loan by the subscriber by submitting an application.

“Contributions to the pension fund will be treated as investment and tax rebate can be availed against it. Besides, the amount received as monthly pension will be exempted from income tax. Introduction of Universal Pension System is a very significant initiative for the inclusive development strategy of the Prime Minister,” he added.

“Recep Tayyip Erdogan made a telephone call to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at around 11:15 pm on Wednesday. The two leaders exchanged greetings and spoke to each other for 10 minutes,” said a press release of the Prime Minister’s Press Wing.

During the telephonic conversation, Sheikh Hasina congratulated the Turkey President on his reelection by securing victory at the second round election, where the voter turnout rate was above 86 percent.

She expressed her happiness as the people of Turkey made the right choice, which was proved after the runoff election.

The Prime Minister reiterated that the people of Bangladesh would remain steadfast to stand by the brotherly people of Turkey at any time of need, as during the February 2023 earthquake.

President Erdogan also expressed his gratitude that the brotherly people of Bangladesh mentally joined the jubilant people of Turkey at his victory in the second round election.

To this end, he thanked the people of Bangladesh and wished to further strengthen the ties between the two peoples.

He reiterated working with Sheikh Hasina to take the existing bilateral relations between Bangladesh and Turkey to a new height.

In the end, Sheikh Hasina conveyed her best wishes to President Erdogan and his family members and continued peace, progress, and prosperity through him to the people of Turkey.

The European Political Community (EPC), which groups 27 EU members with 40 of their allies and excludes Russia and Belarus, chose Ukraine’s tiny neighbour Moldova for its second summit.

Less than an hour’s drive from a Russian-backed breakaway Moldovan region and not much further from war-torn Ukraine, they will try to send a message to Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin.

First and foremost, holding the summit outside Chisinau shows solidarity with Moldova in the face of Russian destabilisation operations and support for its EU membership bid.

It is also an opportunity for European states — whether EU members, recent leaver Britain or candidates for future membership like Ukraine — to work together on regional crises.

“We must also think of a wider Europe,” France’s President Emmanuel Macron, who first promoted the EPC, told reporters in Bratislava on the eve of the summit.

“We must think of our Europe not simply from a security point of view within the framework of NATO and not simply within the framework of the European Union.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s travel plans are never announced in advance, for security reasons in the wake of Russia’s invasion of his country.

– ‘Security guarantees’ –

But if he takes up his invitation to the EPC, he will be seeking not just solidarity but progress on Ukraine’s parallel bids to join NATO and the European Union.

The Moldova summit also came as NATO ministers, including US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, met to discuss the agenda of the alliance’s next summit.

The NATO summit in Vilnius on July 11 will debate how formal a promise to give Kyiv on how and when to join the alliance, but in the interim Europe is keen to show support.

Macron acknowledged that Ukraine’s forces battling Russian invaders in the east and south of their country are “protecting Europe”.

And he said the allies should find a way to offer “tangible and credible security guarantees to Ukraine” while the eventual questions of EU and NATO membership are pending.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, whose country left the European Union but remains in NATO, said, “Putin’s utter contempt of other countries’ sovereignty” showed the need for unity.

“We cannot address these problems without Europe’s governments and institutions working closely together,” he said.

NATO member Turkey’s newly re-elected leader President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is preparing his formal inauguration at home and is not expected at the meeting, diplomats said.

With up to 47 heads of state and government invited, not much time has been set aside for a general group discussion, but diplomats hope side meetings will deal with practical issues.

Macron and Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz will convene a meeting between foes Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pachinian and Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev.

Yerevan and Baku have fought for decades over the disputed territory of Nagorno Karabakh, but have both been invited to the EPC as Washington and Brussels push for a peace deal.

Another long-standing European conflict, the standoff between Serbia and Kosovo will be on the agenda, with leaders from Pristina and Belgrade under pressure to dial down tensions.

– ‘Big progress’ –

Finally, for Moldova itself, the summit will mark a crucial step on its route from being a former Soviet republic part-occupied by Russian “peacekeepers” towards a European future.

Summit host President Maia Sandu wants — as do Ukraine and Georgia — to begin formal EU membership negotiations this year, to “save our democracy” from Russian interference.

She received powerful backing on the eve of the summit from European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, who hailed Moldova’s “big progress” in EU-requested reforms.

“Moldova is at the heart of Europe. Moldova is Europe. And today and tomorrow, the whole of Europe is Moldova,” von der Leyen said.

Hammered out between Democratic President Joe Biden and the Republicans in the House of Representatives, the measure suspends the debt ceiling through 2024, slightly cutting government spending next year.

“Passing the Fiscal Responsibility Act is a crucial first step for putting America back on track,” said Speaker Kevin McCarthy, the top Republican in Congress.

“It does what is responsible for our children, what is possible in divided government, and what is required by our principles and promises.”

Biden hailed the 314-117 vote as a “critical step” to protecting the country’s post-pandemic economic recovery that had been achieved through “bipartisan compromise.”

The drama capped a tense few days on Capitol Hill, with the Treasury expecting to run out of the money as soon as Monday.

The Republican majority in the House needed help from dozens of Democrats to fend off a right-wing rebellion — 71 conservatives voted no — and advance the deal to the Senate, which is expected to follow suit by the end of the week.

McCarthy’s lieutenants had spent the final hours frantically whipping votes, as senior Democrats vowed that their members would put the nation’s finances above the temptation to give the opposition a bloody nose.

“The consequences of slipping past the deadline would reverberate across the world and take years to recover from,” Chuck Schumer, the leader of the Democratic-led Senate, warned ahead of the lower chamber’s vote.

“Remember, a default would almost certainly trigger another recession, send costs soaring, kill millions of jobs — hardworking people thrown out of work through no fault of their own.”

– Leadership challenge? –

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that the proposed spending limits for 2024 and 2025 would trim nearly $1.5 trillion from projected federal budget deficits over the next decade. The total debt is more than $31 trillion.

The vote was the result of weeks of on-off talks between the McCarthy and Biden teams, with Democrats accusing Republicans of holding the economy “hostage” by insisting on spending cuts to accompany the hike in the borrowing cap.

Fiscal hawks on the right of Congress have accused the White House of pushing unsustainable spending programs and say negotiating the future budget must be a condition of hiking the limit, which covers debts already incurred.

The high drama seen in recent debt ceiling and budget fights was absent however as House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries had been open that his members would provide enough votes to ensure the bill was never in danger.

But it was a high wire act for McCarthy, whose job would have been on the line had the majority of his members rejected the pact, only to see it pushed through anyway.

Securing 149 Republican votes — roughly two-thirds of his caucus — allows McCarthy to project strength in his bid to face down criticism from the Republican right, which has accused him of capitulating to the White House by not demanding steeper cuts.

Some hardliners have openly mused about using a new power granted by McCarthy as part of his pitch for the speakership in January to call for snap vote to oust him.

– ‘Cartoon villain’ –

House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark described the vote as a “ransom” the Republicans had exacted by offering Americans “devastating cuts or we lose eight million jobs overnight.”

“It’s hard to take in because it is so cartoon villain-like. But unlike a cartoon, the American people won’t snap back up when you drop that economic anvil on their head,” she said.

The bill will need 60 votes in the 100-member Senate, and party bosses urged their members to cooperate on a swift rubber stamp vote that they are hoping to hold as early as Thursday evening.

Defense hawks have voiced concerns over a $886 billion cap on defense spending, the amount Biden requested.

Meanwhile senators Jeff Merkley and Bernie Sanders — a Democrat and an independent who votes with the party–released separate statements saying they could not “in good conscience” back a bill cutting key federal programs while increasing military spending and demanding no extra tax dollars from billionaires.

Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell, who largely deferred to McCarthy in the negotiations, will be expected to provide at least a dozen votes, with most of the 51-member Democratic majority locked in.

“The government is making each effort to keep the country’s economy vibrant despite the economic recession caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and the Ukraine-Russia war,” she said.

The Premier told the House while responding to a tabled question of ruling party lawmaker MA Latif, elected from Chattogram, at the Prime Minister’s question-answer session.

The Leader of House said that the government has been able to quickly bring the country’s economy back to the pre-coronavirus high growth trend by dealing with the recession, inflation and instability in the global economy due to the Coronavirus pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war, which impacted negatively to the country’s economy.

“Despite the severe Covid-19 crisis, our growth in the financial year 2019-20 was 3.45 percent, the highest in the world for that period,” she added.

As a result of the various steps taken by the government to boost the economy, the GDP growth in the financial year 2020-21 has increased by 6.94 percent, said Sheikh Hasina, adding that “It further increased to 7.10 percent in FY 2021-22.”

At this time, she highlighted various measures taken by the government to keep the economy of the government alive.

These are included government expenditure rationalization, social protection, subsidies in electricity, energy and agriculture sectors, export incentives, increase in remittance flows, monetary policy etc.

Replying to the query of Jatiya Party lawmaker Syed Abu Hossain, elected from Dhaka, the Prime Minister highlighted the various steps taken by the government to control the prices of daily commodities and said that as a result of the government’s activities, it has been possible to control the prices of daily necessities and the poor people are being benefited from it.

Answering to another question of Jatiya Party lawmaker elected from Pirojpur, Rustam Ali Farazi, the head of government said that it will be possible to start rail traffic on the Dhaka-Mawa-Bhanga section of the Padma Bridge Rail Link Project by September 2023 and the Jessore section from June 2024.

This will be the country’s 52nd budget and the 24th of the Awami League government in five terms.

This budget for FY24 will be the 5th consecutive budget of incumbent Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal.

The budget is expected to be passed in parliament on June 26, a bit earlier than the usual tradition because of the holidays of Eid Ul Azha.

According to a press release of the Ministry of Finance, the attainments of Bangladesh over the last one and a half decades under the Awami League government, have laid a solid foundation stone or sustainable groundwork for the country in the coming days.

The ‘Smart Bangladesh’ concept is based on four main pillars which are smart citizens, smart government, smart society and smart economy. “The budget for the next fiscal year (FY24) will be the first budget towards building ‘Smart Bangladesh’,” added the release.

This budget will prioritize health, agriculture, food production and management side by side there will be various food-friendly programmes throughout the year. Besides, the coverage of the social safety nets will also be increased.

The possible budget size of Taka 7,61,785 crore would mainly aim at taming inflation alongside the higher GDP growth trajectory, said a Finance Ministry official.

The budget size is likely to be Taka 1,01,278 crore higher than the revised budget of Taka 6,60,507 crore in the outgoing fiscal year.

The official also said that the budget would not be ambitious one nor expansionary.

The Finance Minister is set to deliver his budget speech with a possible title “Unnayoner Dirgho Agrojattra Periye Smart Bangladesher Abhimukhe.” The budget speech will feature 11 chapters.

Finance ministry officials said Kamal would present his vision on how to make a ‘Smart Bangladesh’ in his upcoming budget speech. The speech will cover building a smart country to cope with the 4iR.

The government this time is eying to attain a growth rate of 7.5 percent in the next fiscal year (FY24) while to contain the inflation rate around 6.5 percent. The total investment target in the next year will be 33.8 percent of the GDP.

The provisional estimate of Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) shows that the GDP has grown by 6.03 percent in the outgoing fiscal year (FY23) and the inflation rate was 8.4 percent till April.

The budget speech has been prepared with emphasis on ensuring people’s employment through business expansion. The government will take initiatives to increase the investment of state-owned enterprises to create new jobs.

In his budget speech, the finance minister will reassure the countrymen about improving the country and transforming it into a smart one with visions to make smart roads to smart intellectuals.

Particularly, focus will be on the ICT sector, power sector, and making smart citizens.

The next budget will be 12.34 percent bigger than the current one.

It will be 15.21 percent of the projected GDP of Taka 50,06,682 crore, compared to 15.27 percent in the current fiscal year. This shows that the next budget is not ambitious.

Officials said the government targets a possible revenue collection of Taka 5,03,900 crore, around Taka 67,000 crore more than that in FY23.

Out of the overall revenue collection target, the NBR is likely to be tasked with a revenue collection target of Taka 4,30,000 crore while Taka 20,000 crore is likely to come from the non-NBR sources. Besides, the budget also eyes to collect Taka 50,000 crore as non-tax revenue.

The government has already approved a Taka 2.63 lakh crore Annual Development Programme (ADP) for the next fiscal year (FY24) of which Taka 1.69 lakh crore (64.26%) will come from the local sources while the rest of Taka 94,000 crore (35.74%) will come from the foreign sources.

Considering the allocations against the autonomous bodies and corporations, the overall estimated development expenditure in the next fiscal year would stand at Taka 2,77,582 crore.

Out of the major expenditure, Taka 4,75,281 crore will likely to be kept as operating cost of which Taka 94,376 crore will be spent for interest payment, Taka 39,034 crore as capital expenditure.

Besides, the government also plans to spend Taka 80,000 crore for bearing the salaries and expenses of the public servants, Taka 1.10 lakh crore for subsidies, and Taka 1,26,272 crore for the social safety nets.

Finance Ministry officials hoped that an amount of Taka 1,27,190 crore would be available as foreign loan alongside Taka 3,900 crore as foreign grants. The target for realizing net foreign loan in the outgoing fiscal year was Taka 95,458 crore.

The government will also likely to borrow Taka 1,32,395 crore from the banking sector in the next budget to meet the deficit financing of which most of the amount will be short-term loan. The target for borrowing from the banking sector in the current fiscal year was Taka 1,06,334 crore.

The target for realizing net loan from the savings certificates in the next budget is likely to be set at Taka 18,000 crore which was Taka 35,000 crore in the original budget of the current fiscal year. This target has been downsized since there is a downtrend in the sales of savings certificates.

The overall size of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the next fiscal year is likely to be set at Taka 50,06,682 crore which was Taka 44,39,273 crore in the revised budget of the outgoing fiscal year.

The overall deficit in the next budget is likely to be Taka 2,61,785 crore, which is 5.2 percent of the GDP.

To meet the deficit, the government plans to borrow Taka 1,55,395 crore from domestic sources, including Taka 1,32,395 crore from the banking system.

Higher allocations will be made for subsidies, more than Taka 1.10 lakh crore, and for interest payments, around Taka 1.02 lakh crore. In the current fiscal year, the allocation for subsidies was around Taka 81,000 crore and for interest payment around Taka 80,000 crore.

The allocations are being raised to soften the blows of high prices of commodities in the international market and the depreciation of Taka.

The government will also likely to continue the austerity measures in the next fiscal year to reduce pressure on foreign reserves.

To achieve the revenue collection goal, several measures, including recruitment of private agents across the country, have been taken to increase the number of taxpayers.

The finance minister will also announce the increase in the allocation and number of beneficiaries in the social security sector following instructions of the prime minister.

The Finance Ministry release said to make the budget more participatory, all the budget-related documents will be available on the website of the Finance Division www.mof.gov.bd.

Any individual or organization would be able to download it and thus could send their valuable opinions and suggestions while staying from both home and abroad by filling up the feedback form on this website.

All the available opinions and recommendations would be considered and thus the accepted recommendations would be implemented during the passing of the budget by Jatiya Sangsad or after that period.

To ensure wide-scale participation, the budget documents will be available at the following government websites:

www. bangladesh.gov.bd

www. nbr.gov.bd

www. plancomm.gov.bd

www. imed.gov.bd

www. pressinform.portal.gov.bd

www. pmo.gov.bd

Meanwhile, the post-budget press conference will be held on Friday at 3:00 pm at the Bangabandhu International Conference Center (BICC) in the capital.

source: BSS

This will be the country’s 52nd budget and the 24th of the Awami League government in five terms.

This budget for FY24 will be the 5th consecutive budget of incumbent Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal.

The budget is expected to be passed in parliament on June 26, a bit earlier than the usual tradition because of the holidays of Eid Ul Azha.

According to a press release of the Ministry of Finance, the attainments of Bangladesh over the last one and a half decades under the Awami League government, have laid a solid foundation stone or sustainable groundwork for the country in the coming days.

The ‘Smart Bangladesh’ concept is based on four main pillars which are smart citizens, smart government, smart society and smart economy. “The budget for the next fiscal year (FY24) will be the first budget towards building ‘Smart Bangladesh’,” added the release.

This budget will prioritize health, agriculture, food production and management side by side there will be various food-friendly programmes throughout the year. Besides, the coverage of the social safety nets will also be increased.

The possible budget size of Taka 7,61,785 crore would mainly aim at taming inflation alongside the higher GDP growth trajectory, said a Finance Ministry official.

The budget size is likely to be Taka 1,01,278 crore higher than the revised budget of Taka 6,60,507 crore in the outgoing fiscal year.

The official also said that the budget would not be ambitious one nor expansionary.

The Finance Minister is set to deliver his budget speech with a possible title “Unnayoner Dirgho Agrojattra Periye Smart Bangladesher Abhimukhe.” The budget speech will feature 11 chapters.

Finance ministry officials said Kamal would present his vision on how to make a ‘Smart Bangladesh’ in his upcoming budget speech. The speech will cover building a smart country to cope with the 4iR.

The government this time is eying to attain a growth rate of 7.5 percent in the next fiscal year (FY24) while to contain the inflation rate around 6.5 percent. The total investment target in the next year will be 33.8 percent of the GDP.

The provisional estimate of Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) shows that the GDP has grown by 6.03 percent in the outgoing fiscal year (FY23) and the inflation rate was 8.4 percent till April.

The budget speech has been prepared with emphasis on ensuring people’s employment through business expansion. The government will take initiatives to increase the investment of state-owned enterprises to create new jobs.

In his budget speech, the finance minister will reassure the countrymen about improving the country and transforming it into a smart one with visions to make smart roads to smart intellectuals.

Particularly, focus will be on the ICT sector, power sector, and making smart citizens.

The next budget will be 12.34 percent bigger than the current one.

It will be 15.21 percent of the projected GDP of Taka 50,06,682 crore, compared to 15.27 percent in the current fiscal year. This shows that the next budget is not ambitious.

Officials said the government targets a possible revenue collection of Taka 5,03,900 crore, around Taka 67,000 crore more than that in FY23.

Out of the overall revenue collection target, the NBR is likely to be tasked with a revenue collection target of Taka 4,30,000 crore while Taka 20,000 crore is likely to come from the non-NBR sources. Besides, the budget also eyes to collect Taka 50,000 crore as non-tax revenue.

The government has already approved a Taka 2.63 lakh crore Annual Development Programme (ADP) for the next fiscal year (FY24) of which Taka 1.69 lakh crore (64.26%) will come from the local sources while the rest of Taka 94,000 crore (35.74%) will come from the foreign sources.

Considering the allocations against the autonomous bodies and corporations, the overall estimated development expenditure in the next fiscal year would stand at Taka 2,77,582 crore.

Out of the major expenditure, Taka 4,75,281 crore will likely to be kept as operating cost of which Taka 94,376 crore will be spent for interest payment, Taka 39,034 crore as capital expenditure.

Besides, the government also plans to spend Taka 80,000 crore for bearing the salaries and expenses of the public servants, Taka 1.10 lakh crore for subsidies, and Taka 1,26,272 crore for the social safety nets.

Finance Ministry officials hoped that an amount of Taka 1,27,190 crore would be available as foreign loan alongside Taka 3,900 crore as foreign grants. The target for realizing net foreign loan in the outgoing fiscal year was Taka 95,458 crore.

The government will also likely to borrow Taka 1,32,395 crore from the banking sector in the next budget to meet the deficit financing of which most of the amount will be short-term loan. The target for borrowing from the banking sector in the current fiscal year was Taka 1,06,334 crore.

The target for realizing net loan from the savings certificates in the next budget is likely to be set at Taka 18,000 crore which was Taka 35,000 crore in the original budget of the current fiscal year. This target has been downsized since there is a downtrend in the sales of savings certificates.

The overall size of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the next fiscal year is likely to be set at Taka 50,06,682 crore which was Taka 44,39,273 crore in the revised budget of the outgoing fiscal year.

The overall deficit in the next budget is likely to be Taka 2,61,785 crore, which is 5.2 percent of the GDP.

To meet the deficit, the government plans to borrow Taka 1,55,395 crore from domestic sources, including Taka 1,32,395 crore from the banking system.

Higher allocations will be made for subsidies, more than Taka 1.10 lakh crore, and for interest payments, around Taka 1.02 lakh crore. In the current fiscal year, the allocation for subsidies was around Taka 81,000 crore and for interest payment around Taka 80,000 crore.

The allocations are being raised to soften the blows of high prices of commodities in the international market and the depreciation of Taka.

The government will also likely to continue the austerity measures in the next fiscal year to reduce pressure on foreign reserves.

To achieve the revenue collection goal, several measures, including recruitment of private agents across the country, have been taken to increase the number of taxpayers.

The finance minister will also announce the increase in the allocation and number of beneficiaries in the social security sector following instructions of the prime minister.

The Finance Ministry release said to make the budget more participatory, all the budget-related documents will be available on the website of the Finance Division www.mof.gov.bd.

Any individual or organization would be able to download it and thus could send their valuable opinions and suggestions while staying from both home and abroad by filling up the feedback form on this website.

All the available opinions and recommendations would be considered and thus the accepted recommendations would be implemented during the passing of the budget by Jatiya Sangsad or after that period.

To ensure wide-scale participation, the budget documents will be available at the following government websites:

www.bangladesh.gov.bd

www.nbr.gov.bd

www.plancomm.gov.bd

www.imed.gov.bd

www.pressinform.portal.gov.bd

www.pmo.gov.bd

Meanwhile, the post-budget press conference will be held on Friday at 3:00 pm at the Bangabandhu International Conference Center (BICC) in the capital.

Rescuers evacuated three injured people and 20 others from a multi-storey building in a southern area of Kyiv after falling debris caused a fire, Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram.

“One person died, three were injured. The two upper floors are destroyed, there may be people under the rubble,” Klitschko said.

Earlier, the mayor had said a 27-year-old woman in the same area of Holosiivskyi had been hospitalised with “moderate” injuries.

“Massive attack! Stay indoors!” Klitschko said.

The city’s military administration said the nighttime attack was carried out using drones.

Falling debris caused a fire at a house in the city’s southern Darnytskyi district, and three cars in the centrally located Pechersky district were also up in flames, the administration said.

Air raid sirens rang out overnight in Kyiv and in the central Cherkasy, Kirovohrad and Mykolayiv regions as well as the southern Kherson region.

Russian forces fired a barrage of missiles at Kyiv earlier on Monday, sending panicked residents running for shelter in an unusual daytime attack on the Ukrainian capital following overnight strikes.