Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal started rolling out the national budget for the fiscal year 2019-20 at around 3:07pm Thursday, but had to skip the full speech after he felt unwell.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina then delivered the budget speech, a rare case in the history of budget presentation in the country.
Before his speech, the finance minister presented a 15-minute video documentary on the country's independence and various economic developments of the government.
He placed a budget of over Tk 5.23 trillion (Tk 523,190 crore), which is 18.1 per cent of GDP of the fiscal year, 2019-20.
The minister termed the budget "the best and biggest" in terms of quality.
After that, he began reading his speech which he wrapped up at 4:00pm as he felt unease.
As the finance minister was having a problem with placing the budget, he requested the Prime Minister to read out the remaining part of the budget.
The Prime Minister picked up the thread left off by the finance minister after the go-ahead given by the Speaker.
Hasina ended the budget speech at 4:40pm.
The Speaker then requested the finance minister to place the Finance Bill 2019.
After taking permission from the Speaker, he placed the bill before parliament.
The bill was passed by 'yes vote' by parliamentarians at 4.45pm of the day.
At 4:45pm, the Speaker adjourned the parliament session until Sunday.
The 72-year-old finance minister was admitted to a private hospital days before his maiden budget presentation in parliament.
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