Shawdesh desk:

Finance minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali said on Friday that he was disappointed with the questions made by journalists about proposed budgetary measures for FY25 and asked them to study.

He also expressed his annoyance, saying that most of the questions linked to the economic crisis, shortage of dollars, price hikes of essentials, growing defaulted loans, and money legalisation scopes were ‘immature.’

He advised reporters to study economics at the post-budget parley in the capital, one day after announcing the budget in Jatiya Sangsad.

Noting that the reporters  are making oversimplifications of the economic issues linked to external and internal factors in the questions, he said economic dynamics vary.

‘Don’t make oversimplifications,’ he said while answering a question about the size of the budget and public sufferings against the backdrop of an income drop amid a sharp appreciation of the dollar and high inflation.

Answering another question about corruption in the banking sector, the finance minister exclaimed that they were open and not hiding anything.

‘Still, why are you asking the same question again and again?’ he said.

Asked to explain why the inclusion of the pension scheme in the social safety net programme would not be called manipulation and whether Bangladesh Bank would generate dollars, the finance minister said,‘ Such questions are not expected.’

He claimed that the reporter attending the briefing did not go through the budget speech attentively.