Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal on Friday said that the amnesty offered in the proposed budget for fiscal year 2022-23 for repatriating laundered money was logical and would rather help the economy.
He also said that there were 17 countries in the world, including the US, UK, Germany, Norway, Malaysia, and Indonesia, who provide similar amnesties.
“We are assuming that the money, which belongs to the people, has been laundered. We want to retrieve that money, and hope that the launderer will return with that money,” he added.
The Finance Minister revealed it during the annual post-budget press conference at Osmani Memorial Auditorium in the capital on the day.
He also urged not to set any obstacles in the process of legalizing laundered money, as it may discourage those who siphoned the money abroad, and thus, will prevent the government from ever getting it back.
Asked whether the launderers would receive protection upon their return, Abu Hena Rahmatul Munim, chairman of the National Board of Revenue (NBR), said that they will be protected as per the law.
Kamal also said that if needed, the identities of the launderers willing to repatriate the money will not be revealed.
In the budget proposed for FY23 on Thursday, the finance minister proposed that laundered money could be legalized only by paying 7% tax.
However, many organizations and those in the civil society criticized this move.
The Finance Minister strongly opposed calling the siphoned money laundered, or black money, but rather preferred "offshore money."
Perhaps those who laundered the money were unaware that it was a crime, or they were in some unfortunate situation, said the minister.
Responding to a question, Fazle Kabir, governor of Bangladesh Bank, said that the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit works to prevent money laundering, but they did not have any proof that money that was laundered overseas, including to the Swiss Bank, was sent from Bangladesh.
In this regard, Mustafa Kamal acknowledged that money was being laundered either using suitcases or digital remittance tools.
Asked about the success of the legalizing process, he said that they wanted to bring the money back to the mainstream economy and wanted to utilize this opportunity.
No disrespect to taxpayers
However, this initiative does not in any way decrease the respect of the country's taxpayers, said Mustafa Kamal.
Responding to another question, he said that the people of the country were never cheated in the last three years, as the government had never given a budget to overburden the poor.
Regarding another question, he said that the proposed budget was mainly for the marginalized people of the country.
"The proposed budget will inspire everyone."
“Many of our products are currently priced higher, that is true. However, it was due to the Russia-Ukraine war, global inflation and the current international scenario,” Kamal further said.
He also said that no country, rich or poor, had anything to do here.
“However, we have proposed the budget with the importance of the common people of the country, including the poor. Because I understand the pain of being poor,” he added.
He also said that there will be many ups and downs in the upcoming fiscal. But if the budget is implemented, the country's economy will be stronger than ever.
Responding to another question, the Finance Minister said that they will close any mismatch between demand and supply.
Moreover, if production increases, it will help to decrease the pressure of demands which control inflation.
Regarding subsidy, Mustafa Kamal said that the subsidy on food, fertilizer, gas, and electricity to continue to save villagers from the burden of inflation, adding that food aid will be provided to more than 2.5 crore people along with VGF and other social safety nets.
He also said that the process of universal pension scheme is almost ready for execution.
Priority to products 'made in Bangladesh'
The finance minister also said he gave priority to locally produced products in the proposed budget for FY23.
Responding to a question, he said that in the proposed budget, it was proposed to impose value added tax (VAT) on import of laptops and mobile phones.
“This is done to encourage local entrepreneurs. We want to increase the demand for 'made in Bangladesh' products,” he added.
He also said that they gave importance to one issue since the last budget - Made in Bangladesh.
Earlier, in the budget placed at the parliament on Thursday, 15% vat was imposed on the import of laptop, printers, cartridge, toner and portable data processing machine, while 5% vat was imposed on mobile phone imports and 10% VAT on broadband internet services.
Agriculture Minister Md Abdur Razzaque, Education Minister Dr Dipu Moni, and State Minister for Planning Dr Shamsul Alam were also present at the post-budget press conference.
Finance Minister Kamal placed the Tk6,78,064 crore national budget for FY23 at Jatiya Sangsad according top priority to safeguarding marginal people from inflation fuelled by the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
This is the fourth budget of the third consecutive term of the government led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and also the overall 51st budget of the country.
FY23's budget is Tk74,383 crore higher than the original budget size of FY22, which was Tk603,681 crore.
