The national income per capita is likely to cross $1600 in the 2017-18 fiscal year from the current $1598, according to Finance Division sources.
Sources said the projection for Gross National Income (GNI) for the fiscal year of 2017-18 is also expected to rise to $1675 from the current $1516 in this fiscal year.
Finance Minister AMA Muhith told the Dhaka Tribune: “Our projection of 7.4% growth for the next fiscal year will materialise as there will be no political unrest in the near future.”
The government has set the growth projection to 7.4% for the 2017-18 fiscal year from 7.2% year of the current fiscal year.
The Coordination Council decided on the 7.4% growth projection that will likely see per capita income rising to $1759 at the current market price, during a recent meeting presided over my the finance minister.
The council also recommended to make the expatriate remittance is kept in the country in order for the GNI levels to remain high and to increase both foreign and local worker’s capacity which would increase their demand and consequently increase the influx of remittance.
However former finance adviser to the caretaker government is skeptical about this projection saying: “The current trends show the numbers are stagnant or is declining.
“The target for 7.4% GDP growth will not be met as there is no growth in the private sector, remittance is down and earnings from export have also gone down this year.”
Per capita is an average of total national income and the poor actually has a greater share of national income despite higher inflation, he said.