Budget FY2022 addresses pandemic priorities only partially

In the year of Bangladesh's golden jubilee, the finance minister has presented the 50th budget of Bangladesh for fiscal year (FY) 2022. This is probably the most challenging budget in the history of Bangladesh. This is also the second budget since the Covid-19 pandemic erupted in Bangladesh in March 2020. The budget comes at a time when the country is also being swept away by the second wave of the pandemic. Thus, before the economy could move towards the recovery phase it has fallen into health, economic and social risks afresh. Hence this budget has been prepared in the context of an unprecedented situation as the economy is mired in multiple challenges which Bangladesh has never observed in the past.