The Centre has slashed budgetary allocation for Tibet House, the Dalai Lama's cultural centre and other Buddhist institutions. The budget for such bodies under the cultural ministry has been reduced from ₹50.19 crore in the current financial year to ₹20.19 crore for the next fiscal. Government sources claimed the budget has been allocated as per the demands made by them. The list includes Tibet House, Centre for Buddhist Cultural Studies Tawang Monastery, Namgyal Institute of Tibetology, Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, International Buddhist Confederation and GRL Monastic School Bomdila. It also includes bodies such as Vrindavan Research Institute, Asiatic Society (Mumbai), Thanjavur Maharaja Serfoji Sarasvati Mahal Library, Central Library and Connemara Public Library. In the last fiscal, budget for these institutes was ₹71.51 crore, reduced to ₹50.19 crore for the current fiscal. When contacted, BJD MP Sujeet Kumar, who heads the All-Party Indian Parliamentary Forum for Tibet, said, "It is unfortunate. Reduction in budgetary allocation especially for Tibet House, Tawang Monastery and Namgyal Institute is worrisome as these institutes work in preserving and protecting the Tibetan culture, which is under attack from China. The government of India should have enhanced the support," Kumar said.

Experts are predicting lower growth in the German economy as the government slashes spending. Germany's gross domestic product is likely to grow by just 0.7% in 2024, down from a previous forecast of 0.9%, the Institute for Economic Research (Ifo), a Munich-based economic think tank said on Wednesday. Ifo revised its mid-December estimate in view of the drastic cuts in the German government's 2024 budget amid a funding shortfall. Last year, Europe's largest economy shrank by 0.3%.   What did Ifo say? "According to our estimate, the federal budget now agreed by the Budget Committee made cutbacks to the tune of some €19 billion ($20.6 billion)," Ifo senior economist Timo Wollmershäuser said. "Businesses and households will come under more strain or receive less relief, and public spending will be reduced," he said. He said that when Ifo made its last prediction in December, it was not clear to what extent spending would be reduced or taxes raised. The German government was forced to trim back its spending after the constitutional court ruled in November that €60 billion ($64 billion) in unused COVID-era loans could not be reallocated. Ifo is more optimistic in its forecast than, for example, the Macroeconomic Policy Institute (IMK), which has predicted that the GDP will shrink by 0.3% in 2024.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is addressing lawmakers about his coalition government's budget crisis. Ministers must fill a hole in state finances after a bombshell Constitutional Court ruling on borrowing. Germany's lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, was set to debate the budget shortfall on Tuesday after Chancellor Olaf Scholz's statement to lawmakers. A gap in government finances emerged after the Constitutional Court earlier this month ruled that unused pandemic funds could not be repurposed for climate and green industry projects. The court said the state could not rechannel reserve emergency loans for separate post-pandemic projects because this did not meet the constitutional requirements for emergency borrowing — blowing a hole in the government's budget. Scholz said the ruling would have an impact on Germany's various levels of government from this time on.  "This ruling creates a new reality — for the federal Government and for all current and future governments, federal and state. A reality that, however, it makes important and widely shared goals more difficult for our country to achieve." The German government's three-way ruling coalition on Monday said it would temporarily extend the lifting of constitutionally enshrined restrictions on borrowing as part of a supplementary budget. The plan included a credit of around €45 billion ($49 billion) to cover funds that had already been spent in 2023. The budget must still be approved by the Bundestag. Why is the budget revision necessary? The Karlsruhe-based Constitutional Court's ruling effectively vetoed government plans to funnel €60 billion that was borrowed for a pandemic fund into the Climate and Transformation Fund (KTF). The gap in finances has posed one of the biggest challenges so far for the coalition of Chancellor Olaf Scholz's center-left Social Democrats, the environmentalist Green Party, and the business-focused Free Democrats. It had already been expected that the 2023 supplementary budget would see Germany suspend the debt brake for a fourth year in succession. The debt brake is part of the German constitution and limits the federal government's structural net borrowing to 0.35% of gross domestic product. It was first adopted in 2009 after the financial crash. The brake was suspended from 2020 to 2022 during the pandemic and energy crisis but was set to come back into force this year. Finance Minister Christian Lindner last week said he would declare 2023 a year of emergency so as to put the existing spending plans on a "firm constitutional footing." The court's decision has also cast doubt over the government's 2024 budget, which Scholz on Friday promised would also be finalized by the end of this year.

Germany's budget crisis, the Middle East and climate change topped the agenda at the Green Party's 2023 convention. The Green Party's four-day convention in Karlsruhe was intense. Never before has a convention held by the German environmental party attracted so many visitors — 4,000 this year, including journalists. Despite the high numbers, the conference room was unusually quiet. Even the foyer, which is normally filled with people hotly discussing the latest issues, was relatively calm. This perhaps comes as no surprise. From Russia's war on Ukraine and Israel's war on Hamas to inflation, high energy costs, social polarization in Germany, antisemitism and hostility towards migrants, the many crises faced by the Green Party domestically and internationally require a high degree of concentration. Any of these topics could have dominated an entire party conference on its own. This year, they are all being debated at the same time. On top of these come Germany's budget woes, as well as a crisis of the governing coalition made up of the Greens, the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) and the neoliberal Free Democrats (FDP). Leading Green politician Robert Habeck, Germany's vice chancellor and economy minister, is particularly affected by the budget crisis. He is the one who has to decide what direction Germany will take now its Constitutional Court has vetoed government plans to use €60 billion (ca. $65 billion) in reallocated COVID funds to tackle climate change. At the party convention, Vice Chancellor Habeck was on the defensive. But that isn't where he wants to remain. 'CDU: Party of yesterday' Habeck said that countries all over the world were investing in a sustainable future and pointed out that the United States alone had allocated what he called an astronomical sum of $400 billion. Yet, in Germany, the opposition wants the government to save. After all, it was the conservative opposition bloc of Christian Democrats and Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) who filed the lawsuit that led to the overturning of the government's climate funding plans.

The 11th National Parliament budget session to start on Wednesday, May 31. The National Parliament Secretariat has informed the matter through a press release that under the Parliament speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury, the session will start at 5 pm tomorrow, May 31.  President Md Shahabuddin convened the 23rd National Parliament session under the powers given to him as per the clause (1) of article 72 of the constitution. Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal will present the national budget for the Fiscal Year-2024 on June 1.  On Sunday, june 25, the proposed budget is expected to be passed in the Parliament. An official of the Ministry of Finance said, "The possible budget size is Tk. 761,785 crore in order to control inflation and maintain high GDP growth rate."

The substantial budget for fiscal 2023-24 of Jammu and Kashmir, will foster inclusive development for all segments of society with the government's keenness towards empowering the weaker sections through various social and tribal welfare initiatives. "According to the budget 2023-24, seven transit accommodations for the nomadic population and 24 Scheduled Tribe hostels are targeted to be completed during this financial year, said an official release from the Department of Information and Public Relation JK. On the directions of Jammu and Kashmir's Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha, the Tribal department has initiated a special project envisaging a transhumant support system including transit accommodations and transport facilities for the migratory population, the release said. In line with the announcement made by Lieutenant Governor to minimize hardships being faced by the tribals during seasonal migration, the Tribal Affairs Department procured a fleet of 40 trucks for transporting around 30,000 families from Jammu to Kashmir via Mughal road and National Highway-44 connecting Jammu with Srinagar. The department had procured these trucks through J-K Road Transport Corporation. According to the release, transport facilities are being made available to tribal families for the seasonal migration of their goods and cattle this year also, the budget document reads. In this year's budget, more milk villages will be established with an aim to support milk production and supply chain besides providing sustainable employment opportunities to youth, said the release. Also, the market linkage would be created for tribal products like milk, mutton, sheep wool, leather etc. The budget has kept a provision for setting up more smart classrooms for tribal children and tracking of educational, healthcare and economic status of the nomadic population, it reads. Besides the budget has a provision for providing scholarships to 12,4300, Pre-Matric students (1st-8th) belonging to Scheduled Caste/Other Backward Classes/ Economically Backward Classes/Physically Challenged Person categories. All the Child Care Institutions (CCIs) would be developed on modern patterns with the best living conditions for the inmates under the new budget. Besides, 1700 inmates in 19 Bal Ashrams and 12 Nari Niketans would be covered under the initiative. This year's financial plan also has a provision for establishing District Disability Rehabilitation Centers (DDRC) in all 20 districts besides the creation of the Hub for Empowerment of Women (HEW)-Mahila Shakti Kendras. Regarding the welfare and security of women, the budget has earmarked funds for the establishment of a GPS-enabled women's helpline and the construction of working women hostels. The Budget has also earmarked funds for the training of specially-abled persons so that they become financially independent and lead a dignified living in society, the release stated.

The Taliban on Thursday welcomed India's Union Budget 2023-2024, and said the aid announcement by India for Afghanistan would help to improve ties and trust between the two nations, Khaama Press reported. The Taliban's remarks came after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed a $25 million development aid package for Afghanistan in the Union Budget. India has pledged Rs 200 crore in development aid to Afghanistan. This is India's second year of support after the Taliban gained control of Afghanistan. The initial announcement was made in the budget last year, according to Khaama Press. Welcoming India's budget, Suhail Shaheen, former Negotiations Team Member for the Taliban said, "We appreciate India's support for Afghanistan's development. It will help to improve ties and trust between the two nations." When the Taliban seized power in Kabul in August 2021, relations between Afghanistan and India were strained, and most initiatives supported by India came to a halt. Regarding this, Shaheen said, "There were various projects in Afghanistan which India was funding. If India resumes work on these projects, it will boost relations between the two countries and eliminate distrust", Khaama Press reported.

On Tuesday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that in the upcoming budget next February, growth will be among the top priorities of the government and attention will be paid to sustaining the momentum that the Indian economy has got coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic. Answering a question on priorities Modi government might have in the budget in terms of specific expenditure revenue, she said the growth priorities will be kept among the top priorities and inflation concerns will be closely looked at. "Measures, specific may be difficult at this stage because it's a bit too early. But broadly, the growth priorities will be kept absolutely on the top, even as I speak about the concerns that inflation brings before me. So inflation concerns will have to be addressed. But then how would you manage growth would be the natural question," she said during an interaction at the Washington-based Brookings Institution. Finance Minister said the upcoming budget will be a very carefully structured budget, one in which the growth momentum of the Indian economy will be sustained. "...being sure how you're going to be able to balance the two and be sure that the momentum that Indian economy has got coming out of the pandemic and the momentum with which it will grow even the next year, even as per the very many multilateral institutions which are observing India cannot be weakened. So, it will have to again be a very carefully structured budget in which growth momentum will have to be sustained," she added. In its July 2022 report, the IMF had pegged India's GDP growth for 2022 at 7.4 per cent. The IMF's latest projection, released on Tuesday, India's GDP growth is projected lower than the 7 per cent growth pegged by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for the financial year 2022-23. However, despite the slowdown, India would remain the fastest-growing major economy. Answering a question on India's short-term growth prospects over the next year or two, she said, in the post-pandemic economy the aim of the Modi government is to make the Indian economy far more robust with infrastructure framework ready not just roads in hopes but also the digital infrastructure, financial inclusion so that everybody has an access to a bank account. "Looking at it the other way, not just handling the pandemic, but seeing it as a type of opportunity to continue with the reforms, whether it is looking at again, the amalgamation of bets making bigger bets, all that," she said. Further speaking on India's economy's short-term prospects, the finance minister pointed to recognized a lot of risks that are "extraneous" to the Indian economy. "They are all things happening outside which are definitely hitting us. And we are every now and then understanding the intensity of this and responding to it. Energy, fertilizer prices. Energy, not just the price, but also the availability. The risks to sourcing of energy. All these challenges, which are not in the medium term, not in the long term, but also in the short term," she said. Sitharaman is on an official visit to the US. During her visit, she will be attending the Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governor (FMCBG) Meetings. The Finance Minister will take part in bilateral meetings with several countries, including Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Bhutan, New Zealand, Egypt, Germany, Mauritius, UAE, Iran and Netherlands. The Finance Minister will also hold one-on-one meetings with leaders & heads of OECD, the European Commission and UNDP. In a high-level meeting, the Finance Minister will meet US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and David Malpass, President, World Bank separately to discuss issues of mutual interest.   Source: ANI      

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal today (June 9) placed a Taka 6,78,064 crore proposed budget for FY23 at Jatiya Sangsad considering recovery from the pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine war and also keeping ahead six key challenges with containing inflation as the major one. “Certainly, we shall be able to transform Bangladesh into a hunger and poverty-free society by achieving SDG in 2030, a higher-middle income country by 2031, a knowledge-based, happy and prosperous developed country by 2041 and a secured delta by 2100,” said Kamal while placing his 208-page budget speech for FY23 lasting over two hours from 3:05 pm. The Finance Minister also placed the supplementary budget for the fiscal year FY22. Considering the lagged effects of the COVID-19 and the protracted crisis arising from the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Kamal set up a GDP growth target of 7.5 percent in the next fiscal year while to contain inflation at 5.6 percent. “You are well aware that Bangladesh has changed a lot over the last five decades. The only thing that hasn’t changed is the everlasting ideals of the Father of the Nation and his robust presence in all the spheres,” noted Kamal. The title of the budget for the next fiscal year is “Return to the Path of Development; Leaving the COVID-19 Behind”. The Finance Minister, wearing white Panjabi and Pajama with “Mujib Coat” placed his 4th budget in a row and also the overall 51st budget of the country. Split in 11 chapters before the concluding remarks, Kamal dedicated a special chapter to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina with the title “Sheikh Hasina: The Story of a Phoenix” where he depicted the life-long dedication of the Premier in taking Bangladesh into a respectable position in the global arena.  President Abdul Hamid witnessed the deliberation of budget speech from the gallery at the Jatiya Sangsad. Besides, Leader of the House and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was also present at the August House. Kamal said the on the whole, the budget of FY23 has been prepared keeping in mind the recovery of country’s economy from the economic crises caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war, implementation of the incentive packages provided by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, timely implementation of priority projects, expansion of social safety nets, ensuring education and training, creation of massive employment, providing agricultural subsidies, and above all sustaining the economic development of the country. However, he said at least three important issues have been carefully considered in preparing the budget structure for the next year.   “We have been working on ways to deal with the direct and indirect negative effects of the second wave of the corona pandemic in different parts of the world that are posing challenges on various sectors of our economy,” he added. Kamal said the government crafted strategies for the coming days considering the potential economic risks posed by the Russian-Ukraine conflict.  Besides, he said the likelihood of the occurrence of ‘imported inflation’ due to the rise in global prices of all major imported commodities including petroleum oil, and the disruption in the supply chain worldwide has also been carefully considered.  “Meeting the public demand, satisfying the needs created in the health sector and bringing the population under the vaccine coverage have also been considered,” he added. The Finance Minister outlined that the major challenges for the next fiscal year would be: 1) containing inflation and enhancing domestic investment; 2) financing additional subsidy required for the increased price of gas, power and fertilizer in international markets; 3) utilizing funds available through foreign assistance and ensuring timely completion of high priority projects of ministries/divisions; 4) ensuring timely completion of projects in education and health sectors; 5) increasing collection of local Value Added Tax and raising the number of individual tax-payers and 6) maintaining stability in the exchange rate of taka and keeping foreign exchange reserves at a comfortable level. Out of the total budget size of Taka 6,78,064 crore, the total revenue earnings for the FY23 has been estimated at Taka 4,33,000 crore. Of this, NBR will collect Taka 3,70,000 crore and another Taka 63,000 crore will be collected from other sources. The total size of the expenditure budget has been estimated at Taka 6,78,064 crore, which is 15.2 percent of GDP. For the operating and other expenditures an allocation of Taka 4,31,998 crore, while for Annual Development Programme an allocation of Taka 2,46,066 crore has been proposed. The overall budget deficit for the proposed budget will be Taka 2,45,064 crore which is 5.5 percent of GDP. In the last budget, the deficit was 6.2 percent of GDP. The deficit will be financed from domestic and external sources. He said the estimates of subsidy and incentives expenditure on the revised budget of FY22 had to be increased to Taka 66,825 crore (1.70 percent of GDP). This expenditure has been increased to Taka 82,745 crore (1.90 percent of GDP) in the initial estimate of the budget for FY23.   However, considering the price trend of oil, gas, and fertilizer in the international market, the estimated subsidy/incentives spending can be 15-20 percent higher than the initial estimates, which may pose a challenge in the budget management for the next fiscal year, he cited. The tax-free income ceiling for the individual taxpayers in the next fiscal year will remain unchanged at Taka 3 lakh.  In the proposed budget, the allocation for the social infrastructure is Taka 1,83,425 crore which is 27.05 percent of the total allocation; out of this, allocation for the human resources sector (education, health and other related sectors) is Taka 1,67,524 crore.  For the physical infrastructure sector an allocation of Taka 2,00,860 crore has been proposed which is 29.62 percent of the total allocation.  Out of this Taka 86,798 crore will go to overall agriculture and rural development sub-sector, Taka 79,026 crore will go to the communication infrastructure sub-sector, and Taka 26,065 crore allocation has been proposed for power and energy sub-sector.  An allocation of Taka 1,53,208 crore has been proposed for general services sector which is 22.59 percent of the total allocation. For public-private partnership (PPP), financial assistance to different industries, subsidies, equity investments in state-owned, commercial and financial institutions, a total of Taka 53,155 crore has been proposed which is 7.84 percent of the total allocation.  Besides, an allocation of Taka 80,375 crore has been allocated for the payments of interest; which is 11.85 percent of the total allocation. For net lending and other expenses, Taka 7,041 crore has been proposed which is 1.04 percent of the total allocation.  The Finance Minister said one of the priorities of the government is to provide emergency financial assistance to the low-income people who become jobless or their income is reduced due to natural disasters like floods, flash- floods, storm surges, hail storms, cyclones or other financial crisis.  In FY22, the government established a fund called ‘Fund for Managing the Shocks of Natural Disasters’ where an allocation of Taka 5,000 crore has been proposed for this fund. Highlighting the government’s success in the vaccine drive, he said so far, a total of 12.9 crore first doses, 11.8 crore second doses and 1.5 crore booster doses have been administered. In the budget, the government offered Bangladeshis a scope for legalising their unreported assets outside the country without facing any questions in the next fiscal year. They will have to pay taxes ranging from only 7-15 percent in order to avail of this opportunity. The opportunity will be in force starting from the first day of the new fiscal and will end on June 30, next year. The Finance Minister also revealed that the universal pension scheme would take off in July next fiscal year.  All citizens aged between 18 and 50 will be entitled to the benefits of the move. About the country’s efforts in ensuring smooth transition from the LDC’s, he said Bangladesh will have to utilise with farsightedness the period from 2022 to 2026 for its preparation to the graduation from LDCs so that Bangladesh can move forward even after graduation and sustain its position as a graduated country.   “To that end, the ongoing development process must continue to ensure smooth graduation. The Government of Bangladesh is fully committed to make this graduation smooth and sustainable. In this context, various policies, strategies, programs, and measures have been adopted,” he added. Kamal said due to the courageous leadership, patriotism, commitment of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to the people of the country alongside her far-sighted economic philosophy, Bangladesh is now the 41st largest economy in the world.  According to the Center for Economic and Business Research (CEBR), a British economic research organization, Bangladesh will become the 25th largest economy in the world by 2035 if economic growth continues.  “Bangladesh has emerged as the world’s wonder in the journey towards development and prosperity.  The world leaders today are now in all praise for what Bangladesh has achieved. Indeed, the role of the Awami League and the people’s leader Sheikh Hasina are at the heart of these remarkable achievements,” he noted. To offset the COVID-19, he informed that the government has so far launched 28 financial and incentive packages worth Tk 1 lakh 87 thousand 679 crore and are successfully implementing them.   Meanwhile, the implementation of these 28 incentive packages by the government has so far directly benefited about 73 million people and about 1,72,000 organisations. In this regard, the Finance Minister assured that the government would continue the initiatives taken to address COVID-19 and economic recovery in the coming fiscal year.  “Now, in the third year of the pandemic, our priority will be to sustain the economic recovery by maintaining the trend of income generation and job creation and thus put the economy on a solid foundation.  Therefore, we will continue to implement incentive programmes in the next fiscal year,” he added. He also told the House that the next fiscal year would be the last year to overcome the effects of pandemic. “Thus we shall touch the fringe of golden Bangla that was ingrained in the heart and soul of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Insha Allah.” Kamal expressed his strong resolve in concluding remarks. Source: BSS AH

The Ministry of Home Affairs on Tuesday informed Lok Sabha that the budget for the Indo-China border in the year 2021-22 under the Border Infrastructure and Management (BIM) has been increased six times as compared to the previous financial year. Responding to the question asked by Member of Parliament Dilip Saikia on the funds allocated by the Government in view of the security of border areas of the North Eastern States including Assam during the last three years, the Minister of State in the MHA, Nityanand Rai in a written reply mentioned that the funds allocated for the security of border areas of the NE States have been utilized within the stipulated time frame. He further provided the details of the funds allocated under the Border Infrastructure and Management (BIM) Scheme to secure border areas of North Eastern (NE) States including Assam during the last three years. The government has increased BIM funds for the Indo-China border areas from Rs 42.87 crore in 2020-21 to Rs 249.12 crore in 2021-22 i.e. around six times. The amount was Rs 72.20 crore in 2019-20. In a similar way, Rs 20 crore was allotted for the Indo-Myanmar border in the year 2019-2020, it was decreased to Rs 17 crore in 2020-21 but it was increased around three times to Rs 50 crore in the year 2021-22. He further replied that in the Indo-Bangladesh border, the budget for the year 2019-2020 was Rs 407 crore that was decreased to Rs 294 crore in the year 2020-21 but in the year 2021-22 it was marginally increased to Rs 303 crore. On being asked about the steps taken by the Government to strengthen the safety of border areas along with the borders adjoining neighboring countries, Rai replied that the Government of India has adopted a multi-pronged approach to strengthen the security along international borders, which inter-alia includes deployment of Border Guarding Forces along the international borders, effective domination of the borders by patrolling, laying nakas, manning observation posts, vulnerability mapping and holistic review of deployment periodically, establishing new Border Outposts (BOPs), deployment of surveillance equipment, strengthening of intelligence network, erection of border fencing and floodlighting and deployment of technological solutions in non-feasible areas like riverine gaps.   Source: ANI