Dhaka, Apr 16 (UNB) - Members of Parliament (MPs) attended a pre-budget consultation meeting in the capital on Monday.

The consultation meeting provided a public forum for MPs to share their thoughts and observations on important aspects of the national economy so that those views reflect in the national budget of 2012-13.

USAID’s US$ 18m governance project, PROGATI, organised the function in collaboration with the Budget Analysis and Monitoring Unit (BAMU) at the Parliament Secretariat.

Speaker Abdul Hamid attended the meeting as the chief guest while Chairman of the National Board of Revenue Nasiruddin Khan joined as a special guest.

Representatives from the Finance Division and National Board of Revenue, the two institutions directly involved in the budget making process, attended the meeting to know the opinions and expectations of the MPs for the upcoming national budget.

USAID, through the PROGATI programme, formally launched BAMU in December 2010 as a mechanism for Parliamentarians to facilitate their oversight of national budgets and monitoring of government expenditures.  

 BAMU is staffed with 10 parliament secretariat officials, who have received and continue to receive training from PROGATI in a variety of topics, including fiscal analysis, gender budgeting, budget financing, and report writing, among others. Two full-time budget experts support the BAMU officials.