Govt bans low priority foreign tours for more organisations
Some more government and autonomous organisations have been brought under the ban imposed on low priority foreign trips owing to post-Covid economic recovery and ongoing global crisis.
The travel ban would also be imposed on officials of organisations such as - statutory, state-owned, autonomous, quasi-government, and financial organisations, reads a circular published by the Ministry of Finance on Monday.
Previously on 12 May, a circular was issued banning low priority foreign trips including exposure visits, study tour, APA and innovation tour, and workshops/seminars for all government officials until further notice.
On 11 may, Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal said that the government will not undertake costly but low-priority projects like making a new road, constructing or repairing a building or buying new cars now.
"We are postponing projects that require foreign currencies while the delayed implementation will not hurt the economy eventually," the finance minister added.
Key factors that compelled the government to come up with the decision include spiked import cost overpassing the export earnings, gradual fall in remittance until recently and dwindling foreign loans and grants for Covid management. All these points caused the country's foreign currency reserve to fall to $41 billion, which was at $48.6 billion in August last year.
