UNB, Dhaka :
Finance Minister AMA Muhith on Wednesday said that 7.3 percent GDP growth has been targeted in the coming national budget for the next fiscal (2014-15).
“The budget will be around Tk 2.5 lakh crore and the size of the annual development programme (ADP) will be about Tk 80,000 crore. I will finalize this through discussion with the Prime Minister,, he told reporters after a meeting with a delegation of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) at his Finance Ministry office.
In the current fiscal (2013-14), the national budget outlay was about Tk 2.23 lakh crore and the ADP was about Tk 68,000 crore. But now it is being mulled to revise the ADP to Tk 55,000 crore.
The current GDP target was 7.2 percent, but the Finance Minister during a half yearly statement on the economy revised the target saying that it might be 6.5 percent.
About his meeting with the delegation, he said the IMF has raised concern about two aspects of the budget which are stimulation for readymade garments (RMG) and the budget process.
“But I have stuck to our position about RMG and also the budget process. This is a general concern. We told them, we’ve to take the extra measures to raise the revenue.”
Muhith said that as a developing nation, “our expectation is high” and for the sake of implementation, the government has to make large allocation for different sectors.
He said the budget size has gone double in five (5) years because of the revenue collection. The total revenue collection has also gone double.
The Finance Minister said the expectation from different ministries is getting huge. All the ministries are asking for additional allocation. “But this year, I’ve to cut down on their additional demand.”
He said this is creating pain for him which the Prime Minister understands. “But she wants me to go up and down.”
About the relation with IMF, Muhith said the relation is very good as Bangladesh never failed in its commitment with the donor agency.
He said the next tranche of IMF loan will be received as per schedule and there will be no problem in this regard.
