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“That gap is corruption,” he said. “If we can bring this to zero, many of our other tasks will become much easier.”

The CPD fellow also warned of a deepening debt risk. Bangladesh’s borrowing is becoming increasingly non-concessional, yet the entire development programme still depends on loans.

“Interest and principal repayments are increasing gradually. This is creating a huge risk,” he said.

Debapriya Bhattacharya, noted economist and a distinguished fellow at CPD, criticised the government for not producing “a documented assessment of the economy” it inherited.

He said, “This government is focusing more on the outward aspects of political commitments such as Family Card, Farmers Card, canal excavation, and so on.

“But the core issue of the economy is maintaining macroeconomic stability, the biggest expression of which is controlling inflation, reducing interest rates and at the same time keeping the exchange rate stable.”

These issues, which are directly linked to people’s livelihoods, are not receiving sufficient attention, he said.

Debapriya said they suggested the government adopt a policy of “tough love” by preparing a budget that is consistent with reality.

Instead, he warned, the government is repeating the pattern of its predecessors and is risking passing a conventional budget similar to that of the interim government.

“You are increasing the ADP by another 20 percent even though 40 to 50 percent of the previous ADP could not be implemented. At the same time, you did not clean up the mess within those 1,500 projects,” he said. “You are simply reproducing the old situation in a new form.”

AK Enamul Haque, director general of Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, said a portion of every budget usually remains unimplemented, and therefore, the efficiency level must be improved. He also stressed reducing land dependency in development projects.

“One reason many government projects are delayed is the huge amount of land demanded for project implementation. In a land-scarce country like ours, the land dependency of projects must be reduced,” he said.

Sharmind Neelormi, a professor of economics at Jahangirnagar University, suggested introducing a programme to ease tax-related fears among the nearly 82 percent of TIN holders who currently do not pay taxes.

She proposed engaging students from public and private universities in awareness programmes in exchange for an honorarium so that they could help TIN holders.

She also suggested allowing people with incomes below a certain threshold to submit “zero returns” for three years in order to build the habit of filing tax returns.

Mahmuda Habiba, a lawmaker from the Bangladesh Nationalist Party for a reserved women’s seat in the 13th National Parliament, said this year’s budget is “more of a crisis-management and stabilisation budget.”

Zahid Hossain, minister for women and children affairs and social welfare, said the government is focusing on making the country humanitarian and inclusive.

“But it may not happen overnight,” he said, urging all to work together.