Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud, who is also the ruling Awam i League’s joint general secretary, has slammed the opposition BNP for criticizing national budgets, noting that the implementation rate of each budget in the last 15 years has been over 90%.

“Every time a budget is presented, you will see the BNP hold a press conference saying this budget is anti-people, will kill the poor… this budget will not do any good. There are some groups including the BNP who do not see any good in anything. Meanwhile, the implementation rate of each budget in the last 15 years has been 92% to 97%,” the minister said on Thursday.

Hasan Mahmud was speaking as the chief guest at a reception and felicitation ceremony for former presidents and general secretaries of Chittagong Press Club on the occasion of its 62nd foundation anniversary, held at the Chittagong Press Club.

“So it is their (BNP’s) habit to find fault with everything. That is why they say that this budget is not implementable. This culture of saying no to everything is an obstacle to the development and progress of the country,” said the Awami League leader.

“The size of the budget has increased 11.5 times in the last 15 years. Per capita income has increased five and a half times. The size of GDP has increased almost six times. And the number of people living below the poverty line in Bangladesh was 41%. It has come down from there to 18.7%. Extreme poverty was 22%, which has come down to 5.5%,” he added.

“If the budget had not benefited the poor, poverty and extreme poverty would not have decreased. People's income has increased five and a half times in dollar terms, even more in taka terms. This has been possible due to the realistic budget formulation and implementation of that budget by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her government,” Hasan also said.

The minister said: “Journalists will point out the mistakes of the government, we welcome that. It helps do the work properly. However, it is often seen that some reports are made in such a way that they are harmful to the country.”