Bangladesh Budget Broadcasts Virtually Beyond Parliament

In a changed political reality, Bangladesh's national budget for the fiscal year 2025–2026 is being presented outside the traditional parliamentary framework and aired virtually across state and private media platforms. With no sitting parliament, the interim government is broadcasting the budget presentation simultaneously on Bangladesh Television (BTV), private channels, and via live stream on the official website of the Finance Division under the Ministry of Finance.

This marks the country’s 54th national budget and the first under the interim government led by Professor Muhammad Yunus.

The budget is being presented to the

nation by Finance Adviser Dr. Salehuddin Ahmed. He emphasized the government's commitment to “zero tolerance for poverty, unemployment reduction, and carbon emissions mitigation,” while also highlighting the importance of embracing the Fourth Industrial Revolution in the nation's development agenda.

Earlier, on Monday, June 2, the proposed budget for the fiscal year 2025–26 was approved during a meeting of the Advisory Council chaired by Chief Adviser Dr. Muhammad Yunus at the Chief Adviser’s Office in Tejgaon, Dhaka. The total budget outlay has been set at BDT 7.90 trillion (7,90,000 crore), which is BDT 70 billion (7,000 crore) less than the current fiscal year’s original budget of BDT 7.97 trillion—marking the first time in Bangladesh’s history that a national budget has been reduced in size.

The last time a national budget was presented outside Parliament was in 2008, under the caretaker government. At that time, then-Finance Adviser Mirza Azizul Islam delivered the budget speech for the 2008–2009 fiscal year, which was also broadcast on BTV and Bangladesh Betar.