Dhaka: Describing the proposed budget for the fiscal year (FY) 2017-18 as a 'big beautiful balloon', BNP senior leader Moudud Ahmed on Saturday said it will only impose a huge tax load on middle-class and lower-income people.

"It's a big beautiful balloon which apparently looks attractive. But, there's nothing for common people, lower-income and middle-class people in it (budget), except a massive load of tax," he said.

Moudud, a BNP standing committee member, came up with the remarks while speaking at a discussion arranged by Bangladesh Youth Forum at the Jatiya Press Club.

Mentioning that the current government is unelected and unaccountable, he said it is a big question whether an unelected regime has any moral right to place the national budget.

The BNP leader said the budget is not pro-people one as non-development expenditure is nearly one and a half times higher than the development expenditure.

"The main weakness of the budget is that it lacks a specific guideline for curbing corruption," Moudud observed.

He alleged that big allocations were made for big projects in the budget creating a scope for indulging in massive corruption. "Big projects mean big amount of bribe and corruption."

The BNP leader said massive corruption will continue as there is no step mentioned in the budget to check misappropriation and waste of taxpayers' money.

Moudud also opposed imposition of excise duty on bank accounts, saying it is evil attempt. "Thirty-four thousand crore taka was siphoned off over the last two years. People will now feel discouraged to deposit money with banks for imposing the excise duty on their bank accounts."

He said the government itself is discouraging people not to deposit money with banks by imposing the excise duty on bank accounts. "The government is encouraging people to siphon off money. What else can be more suicidal than this proposal?"

Earlier on Thursday, Muhith unveiled a Tk 400,226 crore ambitious budget for the next fiscal year (2017-18) with a growth target of 7.4 percent, expecting to open up a new horizon for Bangladesh through some initiatives ahead of the next general election.

According to the proposed budget, accounts with balance between Tk 1 lakh and Tk 10 lakh may be slapped with Tk 800 excise duty any time of a year.