UNB, Dhaka :
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has been attaching utmost importance to six priority areas to boost
Bangladesh’s GDP growth and maintain the country’s overall macroeconomic stability.
An IMF delegation, led by Deputy Division Chief of its IMF’s Asia and the Pacific department Rodrigo Cubero, came up with the remarks when they met Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal at his ministry office in the city’s Sher-e-Bangla Nagar area on Wednesday afternoon.
The IMF resident representative Stella Kaendera was also present at that time.
The six priority areas are important infrastructural sector, necessary availability of land, risk management in financial sector, increasing revenue collection, formulating effective policy and its implementation on power and energy, and tackling climate change.
Besides, the delegation said the country’s overall macroeconomic stability depends more on how it could face the post-MDG challenges.
The IMF delegation lauded the economic advancement of Bangladesh it made braving various obstacles. They said the debt to GDP ratio of Bangladesh is still one of the lowest in the world and it refers to
the country’s economic stability. Citing that non-availability of land is one of the main barriers towards attracting foreign direct investment, the delegation members said the government should give priority to financial sector reforms, including addressing the problem of land availability.
In response, the Planning Minister said work for upgrading the Dhaka-Chittagong and Dhaka-Mymensingh highways into four-lane ones would be completed by this year while the work for Padma Bridge project is visible now. He said once the deep sea ports are set up at Payra and Maheshkhali, the GDP growth of the country would be enhanced by 1.5 to 2 percent per year.
Mustafa Kamal said the government has set a target to ensure cent percent employment opportunities for the capable working force by 2025 for which a plan of generating some 1.32 crore employment opportunities have been set in the 7th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020).
He said if it is ensured, the poverty rate at national level would come down to 16 percent. For this, the government would build technically skilled human resources and set up at least one university in each district and one technical institute in each upazila.
The Planning Minister, commonly known as Lotus Kamal, said the government is putting utmost importance to implementing the fast track projects in due time apart from showing success in domestic resource mobilisation.
He said, although the tax-GDP ratio is yet to reach a desired level, the growth in tax collection per year is near about 18 percent which is not bad.
He also said necessary reforms would be brought to this end since the goal of the government is to widen the tax net and reduce the tax rate.
Talking about the problems in availability of land, AHM Mustafa Kamal said the government would utilise the idle land of the northern region for making investment. Side by side, the government would set up some 100 economic zones across the country in the next five years.
“The government believes that through this, a balanced development would be ensured while the country’s economy would not only be centered in Dhaka and Chittagong,” he added.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has been attaching utmost importance to six priority areas to boost
Bangladesh’s GDP growth and maintain the country’s overall macroeconomic stability.
An IMF delegation, led by Deputy Division Chief of its IMF’s Asia and the Pacific department Rodrigo Cubero, came up with the remarks when they met Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal at his ministry office in the city’s Sher-e-Bangla Nagar area on Wednesday afternoon.
The IMF resident representative Stella Kaendera was also present at that time.
The six priority areas are important infrastructural sector, necessary availability of land, risk management in financial sector, increasing revenue collection, formulating effective policy and its implementation on power and energy, and tackling climate change.
Besides, the delegation said the country’s overall macroeconomic stability depends more on how it could face the post-MDG challenges.
The IMF delegation lauded the economic advancement of Bangladesh it made braving various obstacles. They said the debt to GDP ratio of Bangladesh is still one of the lowest in the world and it refers to
the country’s economic stability. Citing that non-availability of land is one of the main barriers towards attracting foreign direct investment, the delegation members said the government should give priority to financial sector reforms, including addressing the problem of land availability.
In response, the Planning Minister said work for upgrading the Dhaka-Chittagong and Dhaka-Mymensingh highways into four-lane ones would be completed by this year while the work for Padma Bridge project is visible now. He said once the deep sea ports are set up at Payra and Maheshkhali, the GDP growth of the country would be enhanced by 1.5 to 2 percent per year.
Mustafa Kamal said the government has set a target to ensure cent percent employment opportunities for the capable working force by 2025 for which a plan of generating some 1.32 crore employment opportunities have been set in the 7th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020).
He said if it is ensured, the poverty rate at national level would come down to 16 percent. For this, the government would build technically skilled human resources and set up at least one university in each district and one technical institute in each upazila.
The Planning Minister, commonly known as Lotus Kamal, said the government is putting utmost importance to implementing the fast track projects in due time apart from showing success in domestic resource mobilisation.
He said, although the tax-GDP ratio is yet to reach a desired level, the growth in tax collection per year is near about 18 percent which is not bad.
He also said necessary reforms would be brought to this end since the goal of the government is to widen the tax net and reduce the tax rate.
Talking about the problems in availability of land, AHM Mustafa Kamal said the government would utilise the idle land of the northern region for making investment. Side by side, the government would set up some 100 economic zones across the country in the next five years.
“The government believes that through this, a balanced development would be ensured while the country’s economy would not only be centered in Dhaka and Chittagong,” he added.
