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Finance Minister Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury today declared that the upcoming national budget for the fiscal year 2026-27 will depart from conventional frameworks, focusing instead on deregulating and democratizing the national economy to directly  fnancial dividends to ordinary citizens.

 The minister emphasized that the core objective of the upcoming fiscal policy is to integrate every marginal community into the economic mainstream through discrimination-free and inclusive financial strategies.

 He made these remarks as the chief guest at a seminar titled "Budget 2026-27: Expectations and Reality," organized by the Economic Reporters' Forum (ERF) at its auditorium on Tuesday.

Addressing the seminar, the Finance Minister stated that the interim administration inherited a fragile and precarious economic infrastructure from previous regimes. He noted that formulating a national budget within just one to one-and-a-half months of assuming office is an exceptionally grueling task. With nearly all macroeconomic indicators on a downward trajectory, the government is injecting capital and orchestrating a substantial budget to reactivate the economy, comparing the move to priming a dry tube-well with external water to revive national production and employment.

Underscoring the concept of the democratization of the economy, the minister asserted that democracy must extend beyond the voting booth to guarantee equal economic rights for all citizens. He pointed out that GDP does not solely originate from heavy industries or the shipping sector, as the earnings of rural women, blacksmiths, potters, weavers, traditional mat artisans, and even theater workers are vital components of the national growth.

 To support these sectors, the upcoming budget will feature special financial allocations and incentive packages for the creative economy and marginal producers. 

The minister guaranteed zero political interference in social welfare distribution, noting that direct cash subsidies are already being funneled into beneficiary bank accounts using digitized Family Cards for homemakers and Farmers' Cards for agricultural workers. 

To clean up the banking sector and restore investor confidence, the minister announced that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is being structurally reorganized with skilled, non-partisan, and professional experts. He added that this overhaul will relieve the credit pressure on commercial banks by opening long-term financing avenues through the bond and capital markets. 

The seminar was presided over by ERF President Daulat Akhter Mala. Dr. Fahmida Khatun, Executive Director of the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD); Azam J. Chowdhury, Chairman of the East Coast Group; and Shaukat Aziz Russell, President of the Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA), attended the event as special guests alongside senior financial journalists from print and electronic media houses.