Economy is doing better than other countries
On the World Bank’s report projecting the country’s economic growth, the finance minister said the offices of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund were located in the same building. They have similar policies, too
Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal said the economic situation in Bangladesh is much better than other countries.
The targets of growth and other economic indicators are set considering various parameters of the economy and later the figures are revised to reflect the realities, he said at an online briefing following a meeting of the cabinet committee on purchase yesterday.
The government's job is to ensure the optimum use of limited resources, which the government is doing well by helping the economy do better than other countries.
On the World Bank's report projecting the country's economic growth, the minister said the offices of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund were located in the same building. They have similar policies, too.
"Still, the growth forecasts made by the two organisations do not match. They change the figures every week."
Replying to a question on revenue collection, he said the volume of imports had come down, lowering the import duty earned but the flow of income tax and value added tax has increased.
On the overall economic situation of the country, Kamal said, "As a nation, we are very immune to vulnerabilities." For example, if there were more foreign investments in the capital market, they could have withdrawn it at any time. The risk is low because there are more domestic investments in the stock market.
Apart from that, the country's economy is less vulnerable because of low debt-to-GDP ratio.
The finance minister also said the fiscal policy and the monetary policy were in line with the government's long-term plan and the eighth Five-Year Plan.
Over the last six months, migrant workers remitted about Tk40,000 crore which will go up to more than Tk80,000 crore as the fiscal year ends. The flow of remittance went up because of cash incentives given by the government.
New investments made from remittances caused a stir in the capital market and the economy gained momentum.