Economic Reporter :
Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal on Thursday said the overall macroeconomic situation of the country is not bad while efforts will continue to make further improvement.
“Our overall macroeconomic areas are not bad and we’ll continue our efforts to make further improvement. We seek cooperation of all, even from our opposition party members in parliament in this regard,” he said while briefing reporters at his secretariat office this afternoon after chairing a meeting on the ‘Ease of Doing Business Index’.
Highlighting some salient features of the macro economy, the finance minister said the government has so far borrowed taka 54,742 crore in the current fiscal year from the domestic sources, including the banking sector and the national savings certificates, compared to Taka 61,891 crore in the last fiscal.
About the revenue generation situation, he said the National Board of Revenue (BNR) usually sets a high target of revenue mobilization every year and it becomes hard to fulfill the target.
In view of the global economic situation, Kamal said, the country’s export earnings witnessed a 5.2 percent drop in the first seven months of the current fiscal year. He hoped the negative growth in exports would reverse at the end of the year.
He cited that over the last one year, Thailand’s exports dropped by 6 percent followed by Malaysia’s 2.5 percent, Vietnam’s 14.3 percent, Sri Lanka’s 0.1 percent, the UK’s 3.3 percent, EU’s 1.8 percent and even neighboring India witnessed a drop of 3.1 percent.
“It’s a reality and we’ll have to come out of this trend,” he said.
Referring to the criticisms of the opposition members over the passage of the “Deposition of the Surplus Money of Self-Governed Agencies including Autonomous, Semi-Autonomous, Statutory Government Authorities and Public Non-Financial Corporations into the Government Exchequer Bill, 2020” passed in parliament yesterday, Kamal said the bill was not passed with an ill motive or to accomplish any bad task.
“We just want to establish financial discipline of those state entities because every state institution has accountability to the government. The law has been framed properly and I hope it will play a meaningful role.” He added.
The bill was passed with a view to allowing the government to use surplus fund of different government organizations for maintaining the ongoing development programmes throughout the country.
Answering to a question, the finance minister said around Taka 1,16,243 crore surplus fund or idle money is now remaining with the banks.
Pointing towards the criticisms of the opposition members over the passage of the bill yesterday, Kamal said, “The way they (opposition MPs) talked yesterday in the House was not the language of democracy, even some of those words couldn’t be uttered in the civilized society,”
He said the government is trying to further improve the overall macro economic situation and time has not yet come to evaluate the government’s performance.
“I’ll need another one year……..then I’ll see where there are achievements and where there is nothing.” he added. When asked whether the Coronavirus would affect the country’s economy, Kamal hoped that the economic activities across the globe would continue overcoming this threat.
Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal on Thursday said the overall macroeconomic situation of the country is not bad while efforts will continue to make further improvement.
“Our overall macroeconomic areas are not bad and we’ll continue our efforts to make further improvement. We seek cooperation of all, even from our opposition party members in parliament in this regard,” he said while briefing reporters at his secretariat office this afternoon after chairing a meeting on the ‘Ease of Doing Business Index’.
Highlighting some salient features of the macro economy, the finance minister said the government has so far borrowed taka 54,742 crore in the current fiscal year from the domestic sources, including the banking sector and the national savings certificates, compared to Taka 61,891 crore in the last fiscal.
About the revenue generation situation, he said the National Board of Revenue (BNR) usually sets a high target of revenue mobilization every year and it becomes hard to fulfill the target.
In view of the global economic situation, Kamal said, the country’s export earnings witnessed a 5.2 percent drop in the first seven months of the current fiscal year. He hoped the negative growth in exports would reverse at the end of the year.
He cited that over the last one year, Thailand’s exports dropped by 6 percent followed by Malaysia’s 2.5 percent, Vietnam’s 14.3 percent, Sri Lanka’s 0.1 percent, the UK’s 3.3 percent, EU’s 1.8 percent and even neighboring India witnessed a drop of 3.1 percent.
“It’s a reality and we’ll have to come out of this trend,” he said.
Referring to the criticisms of the opposition members over the passage of the “Deposition of the Surplus Money of Self-Governed Agencies including Autonomous, Semi-Autonomous, Statutory Government Authorities and Public Non-Financial Corporations into the Government Exchequer Bill, 2020” passed in parliament yesterday, Kamal said the bill was not passed with an ill motive or to accomplish any bad task.
“We just want to establish financial discipline of those state entities because every state institution has accountability to the government. The law has been framed properly and I hope it will play a meaningful role.” He added.
The bill was passed with a view to allowing the government to use surplus fund of different government organizations for maintaining the ongoing development programmes throughout the country.
Answering to a question, the finance minister said around Taka 1,16,243 crore surplus fund or idle money is now remaining with the banks.
Pointing towards the criticisms of the opposition members over the passage of the bill yesterday, Kamal said, “The way they (opposition MPs) talked yesterday in the House was not the language of democracy, even some of those words couldn’t be uttered in the civilized society,”
He said the government is trying to further improve the overall macro economic situation and time has not yet come to evaluate the government’s performance.
“I’ll need another one year……..then I’ll see where there are achievements and where there is nothing.” he added. When asked whether the Coronavirus would affect the country’s economy, Kamal hoped that the economic activities across the globe would continue overcoming this threat.
