Parliament has passed a bill to allow the use of surplus funds of self-governed state agencies by the government amid strong opposition.
The BNP walked out in protest against the bill while the Jatiya Party voted ‘No’ after heated arguments on Wednesday, reports bdnews24.com.
The opposition lawmakers also withdrew en masse their amendment proposals on the Bill in a rare show of protest calling it a “dark law to loot the people’s money”.
During the arguments, AHM Mustafa Kamal claimed himself the “The No. 1 Finance Minister of the World” when an opposition MP questioned his business links.
As many as 61 agencies, including autonomous, semi-autonomous, statutory government authorities and public non-financial corporations will have to deposit parts of their surplus funds into the government exchequer once the president signs the Bill into law.
They will be able to keep their operational costs plus 25 per cent of the amounts as emergency funds. They will also set aside the money to fund their projects and pay pensions and dividend funds.
The surplus funds of the self-governed agencies’ total over Tk 2.12 trillion, according to latest government data.
The government initiated the Bill after its borrowings from the banks to fund big infrastructure projects started to rise rapidly putting private investment under pressure.
