Dhaka, June 21 -- Abdul Awal Mintoo, business leader and vice-chairman of the opposition BNP, has criticised the government for applying austerity measures selectively in the proposed 2025-26 national budget.

Speaking at a discussion titled "Budget Debate: Context-Appendix" organised by the Bangladesh Economic Association (BEA) at the SIRDAP auditorium in Dhaka on Saturday, he said the austerity policies were designed only for the private sector, while the government exempted itself.

"To curb inflation, we've raised interest rates, fair enough," he said. "We've also slashed the size of the budget by 7 to 8 billion under a tight fiscal policy.

"But what's clear is that this contractionary monetary and fiscal policy is targeted solely at...