UNB, Dhaka :
Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal on Monday said that the government has set a target to generate some 1.32 crore employment opportunities in the next five years, for which the government would have to move ahead in line with the private sector.
“We must utilize the current demographic dividend,” he said when the new office bearers of Dhaka Chamber of Commerce & Industry (DCCI) met him at the NEC conference room in the city’s Sher-e-Bangla Nagar area this afternoon. DCCI president Hossain Khaled led the delegation.
The Planning Minister said that despite the current various obstacles in the wake of political turmoil, the private sector has been marching forward. In this connection, he assured that the government would provide all the necessary facilities and stimuli to the private sector.
He said that the government alongside the private sector has created employment opportunities for some 1.04 crore previously unemployed people over the last five years.
DCCI President Hossain Khaled said although the contribution of DCCI in the country’s GDP is about 5.7 percent and the SME sector creates about 35.5 percent of employment opportunities, it has to give the highest interest rate which is around 25 percent per year.
He underscored the need for lowering the rate to below 10 percent.
The new office bearers of DCCI underscored the need for providing low interest finance to make investment sustainable, ensuring uninterrupted gas and power supply as well as increasing infrastructural facilities.
Responding to DCCI Vice President Shoaib Chowdhury’s opinion that the business transactions would be enhanced by TK 10,000 crore per year once the works for converting the Dhaka-Chittagong and Dhaka-Mymensingh highways into four lanes are completed, the Planning Minister expressed his hope that they would be completed by this year.
Answering a question, AHM Mustafa Kamal said that the present government has been attaching highest importance on education and human resource development. He said that the government wants to utilize the waterways and railways to ensure balanced development in the country.
Replying to another question after the meeting, the Planning Minister said that the Annual Development Programme (ADP) witnesses cuts every year, and the current one would not be an exception to that. Still, he categorically stated that the amount which would be needed to meet the development needs during the year (the current fiscal expires on June 30) would be disbursed.
He said that it is not possible now to enumerate the various items in the actual revised ADP for the current fiscal, which would be around TK 72,000 crore, TK 12,000 crore higher from the last fiscal year. The National Economic Council (NEC) meeting on March 10 is expected to finalize the amount.
Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal on Monday said that the government has set a target to generate some 1.32 crore employment opportunities in the next five years, for which the government would have to move ahead in line with the private sector.
“We must utilize the current demographic dividend,” he said when the new office bearers of Dhaka Chamber of Commerce & Industry (DCCI) met him at the NEC conference room in the city’s Sher-e-Bangla Nagar area this afternoon. DCCI president Hossain Khaled led the delegation.
The Planning Minister said that despite the current various obstacles in the wake of political turmoil, the private sector has been marching forward. In this connection, he assured that the government would provide all the necessary facilities and stimuli to the private sector.
He said that the government alongside the private sector has created employment opportunities for some 1.04 crore previously unemployed people over the last five years.
DCCI President Hossain Khaled said although the contribution of DCCI in the country’s GDP is about 5.7 percent and the SME sector creates about 35.5 percent of employment opportunities, it has to give the highest interest rate which is around 25 percent per year.
He underscored the need for lowering the rate to below 10 percent.
The new office bearers of DCCI underscored the need for providing low interest finance to make investment sustainable, ensuring uninterrupted gas and power supply as well as increasing infrastructural facilities.
Responding to DCCI Vice President Shoaib Chowdhury’s opinion that the business transactions would be enhanced by TK 10,000 crore per year once the works for converting the Dhaka-Chittagong and Dhaka-Mymensingh highways into four lanes are completed, the Planning Minister expressed his hope that they would be completed by this year.
Answering a question, AHM Mustafa Kamal said that the present government has been attaching highest importance on education and human resource development. He said that the government wants to utilize the waterways and railways to ensure balanced development in the country.
Replying to another question after the meeting, the Planning Minister said that the Annual Development Programme (ADP) witnesses cuts every year, and the current one would not be an exception to that. Still, he categorically stated that the amount which would be needed to meet the development needs during the year (the current fiscal expires on June 30) would be disbursed.
He said that it is not possible now to enumerate the various items in the actual revised ADP for the current fiscal, which would be around TK 72,000 crore, TK 12,000 crore higher from the last fiscal year. The National Economic Council (NEC) meeting on March 10 is expected to finalize the amount.
