Muhith promises to provide defence budget breakdown in future

In the wake of criticisms in the Jatiya Sangsad for not having the disclosure of breakdown in defence budget in his budget speech, the Finance Minister has said that the absence of a detailed defence budget was a ‘tradition’ that had been put in place by illegal governments. However, he promised that the future budgets will contain detailed breakdown of the government’s defence spending. ‘This is not a healthy tradition. I have been trying to change this for the last five years. Hopefully in the future you will see detailed description of the defence budget,’ Finance Minister AMA Muhith told the house on Monday. Earlier, JSD MP Moinuddin Khan Badal demanded detailed description of the defence budget in his discussion on the revised budget. Corruption watchdog Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) also called for ensuring transparency in the defence budget. After the finance minister’s speech on May 5, independent MP Rustam Ali Farazi too said that parliament had the right to know the details of the defence spending, agencies report.