Finance minister optimistic about 7.2% GDP growth in current fiscal year

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has said he is optimistic that Bangladesh will achieve 7.2% GDP (gross domestic product) in the current fiscal year, given the country is on the right path towards development.

He said this on Monday during a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase (CCGP).

Asked about the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) latest enhanced growth projection of 6.6% for Bangladesh in the current 2021-22 fiscal year from its earlier projection of 6.5% made in October, Kamal said that the World Bank and the IMF always make conservative projections on such issues.

"The good news is that they have scaled up their GDP growth projection slightly to 6.6% from their earlier projection. This helps me to believe that we will be able to attain 7.2% GDP growth this year," he added.

Kamal said recent figures have shown that the country has attained growth in almost all sectors as the export earnings witnessed a growth of over 31% in November while the export earnings from July-November posted a healthy growth of 24.3%.

The way export earnings are coming, the country is likely to fetch $47 to $48 billion from exports by the year end which would also be a new milestone for Bangladesh, the minister further stated.

"Although the inward remittance flow is a bit less now, at the end of the year, it is likely to reach $21 billion," he added.

When asked about the attainments of Bangladesh over the last 50 years since independence, AHM Mustafa Kamal said it took around 38 years since independence to reach the country's GDP size to $100 billion but the maximum attainments were made over the last 13 years under the dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Replying to another question about the outcomes of the recent Road Shows organised by the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) in different countries of the world, Kamal said he does not believe that these road shows are directly related to the development of the capital market.

But he believes that these roadshows have effectiveness as the whole world now do not have the same perception about Bangladesh which they had earlier.

When asked about the proposal from the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) for procuring some 3.95 lakh tabs for conducting the next Housing and Population Census although it was not approved in the day's CCGP meeting, Kamal said that the Statistics and Informatics Division has been suggested to resubmit the proposal within 10 days with more information.

He said that it is taking time to approve the proposal since the government wants to go ahead with the locally made products bearing the "Made in Bangladesh" concept and philosophy. The minister further said the government wants to give scope to the local companies in this regard for which is taking some time.

"The two companies, in tender bids, are local ones and we need more information only for a matter of clarity. We do not want to import products which are produced locally as we want to stand on our own feet," he added.