Economists and business leaders have said the proposed FY27 budget is compassionate and business-friendly, but it faces implementation risks due to ambitious macroeconomic targets, policy uncertainty, and limited execution capacity.
The observations were made at a discussion titled "The Finance Bill 2026 Unveiled" and organised by SMAC Advisory Services Ltd at Gulshan Club in the capital on Sunday evening.
Policy Exchange Bangladesh founder and CEO Dr Masrur Reaz said the budget reflected a "green signal" in the current economic context, indicating a broadly supportive and accommodative stance.
"This is a compassionate budget. It has tried to support people and businesses. No major new burdens have been imposed," he said.
He noted that the budget had attempted to ease pressure on households and businesses through tax measures and policy adjustments, offering some relief amid the prolonged economic stress.
Dr Reaz also described the budget's policy direction as a "yellow signal," saying it sent positive messages to investors, although concerns remained over execution and realism of targets.
He said a budget typically performs three key functions - tax and rate adjustments, allocation of public expenditure, and policy signalling.
"We usually expect the budget to solve everything, but in reality, it can only perform these three roles," he added.
Foreign Investors' Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) President Rupali Chowdhury said listed companies and most industries were already paying multiple layers of taxes and duties, depending on their business structure.
"If both revenue and expenditure keep rising, the budget ultimately becomes expenditure-driven."
She stressed that policy consistency and predictability were essential for business confidence, warning that frequent changes in corporate taxation would create uncertainty.
Highlighting investment challenges, Rupali said Bangladesh was competing with countries such as Vietnam, Indonesia, and Malaysia for foreign direct investments (FDI), making policy efficiency and implementation capacity critical.
She also pointed to long-standing structural bottlenecks, including the lack of an effective one-stop service for investors, bureaucratic procedures across ministries, and infrastructure constraints.
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