Dhaka, May 18 -- 27 budget faces a 'near-impossible revenue challenge' that could force the government to choose between paying civil servants more and protecting the poor, the Citizen's Platform warned Monday.

The government has set a revenue target of Tk 6.95 lakh crore for FY27, implying a growth rate of at least 42 percent over the revised FY26 target ,CPD Additional Research Director Towfiqul Islam Khan said presenting a keynote at a pre-budget dialogue at a hotel in Gulshan, organised by the Citizen's Platform for SDGs, Bangladesh.

"No historical benchmark supports this," he cautioned, noting that even the most optimistic compound annual growth rate from FY01 to FY19 stood at just 15.6 percent, and would still result in a shortfal...