Press release: Dr. Prof. Md. Salim Uddin, FCA, FCMA, the chairman of Bangladesh House Building Finance Corporation and also the chairman of the executive committee of Islami Bank Bangladesh Ltd. has recenlty said, the proposed 2021-2022 budget will gear-up the country’s economy. While presenting the keynote paper in a webinar on `National Budgte 2021-2022 for protecting Lives and Livelihoods in Bangladesh: Opportunities and challeneges’ organized by the Barue of Business Research (BBR), Faculty of Business Administration (FBA), University of Chittagong. Appreciating the slogan of this budget `Protecting Lives and Livelihoods’ Dr. Salim Uddin praises the effort to place a braod spectrum of people with tax cuts for business, a widened social safety net and conciously modest target for the revenue officials. He, also the Chairman of BBR, showed the sectors of expenditures, revenues,and overall deficit through a powerpoint presentation. Dr. Salim Uddin identified few issues as challenges, such as rising revenue shortfall, revenue mobilization, increasing income inequality, budget implementation,and lower allocation in health and education. Dr. Uddin also concentrated on few issues that are playing good roles, such as increasing development expenditure, lowering the weighted average cost of capital, reducing corporate tax, expanding tax holidays for the establishment of hospitals, reducing duty in industrial inputs, VAT exemption, sustainable debt, and so on. He also presented a scenario that compares the budget among the South Asian countries. He added that tax exemption, tax relief, and rationalization of vat, duties and tariff value would reduce business costs. Dr. Uddin believes that the proposed budget gives preferences to the lives and livelihoods of people and will generate a lot of employment, cutting poverty, and paving the way to a digital economy in the country by 2041. He concluded that the government is determined to support business and marginalized communities during the protracted Covid-19 pandemic.

The Vice-Chancellor, Pro-Vice Chancellor of Chittagong University respectively Professor Doctor Shireen Akter and Prof. Benu Kumar Day attended the webinar as chief and special guest respectively. Mr. Mahbubul Alam, the President of the Chittagong Chamber of Commerce & Industry also delivers his expert opinion on the programme as chief discussant The Chairman, faculties, students, alumni of various departments of the University of Chattogram participated in the webinar. Prof. Dr. S.M. Salamatullah Bhuiyan, Dean FBA presided over the webinar and the program was moderated by prof. Dr. S.M. Sohrab Uddin, Director of BBR.