No IMF proposal received to raise power, petroleum prices: Finance Minister

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has said he did not get any proposal from International Finance Corporation (IMF) over hiking the prices of petroleum and power as a precondition for providing loans.

"They (IMF) didn't give any proposal over raising power and petroleum prices," he said while briefing reporters after the two consecutive meetings of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs and Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase on Wednesday.

The finance minister was asked the question referring to a media report that IMF has proposed increasing the prices of power and petroleum as a precondition to providing a $4.5 billion bailout loan.

He advised the reporters not to spread any misleading information for the sake of the interest of the country.

Quoting a Hadith, Kamal said without loving one's own country, a Muslim cannot be a good Muslim.

Responding to another question he said that everybody should encourage people who had laundered money to bring those back by paying a certain amount of tax.

Defending his position about such move of the government to allow the whitening of black money, he said money turns black due to the government system.

The finance minister said the country's economy will return to a stable position within months as everything is moving on the right track.

He said not only Bangladesh, many countries in the world including the European ones have been experiencing high inflation.