Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal on Thursday said the government is working out a strategy to transform Bangladesh into a developed nation as envisioned by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina bearing in mind the outline of Smart Bangladesh.
“Strategies to deal with sustainable transition and post-transition realities from LDCs in the days ahead need to be determined now,” he told parliament while placing the proposed budget for the fiscal year 2023-2024.
The finance minister said the dream of Smart Bangladesh will be realized based on four main pillars – smart citizens, smart government, smart society and smart economy.
The Perspective Plan (2021-2041), the 8th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) and the Delta Plan 2100 have been prepared.
“These plans are at the implementation stage now which will lay the foundation of a developed and Smart Bangladesh by 2041,” he said.
The finance minister said overall the current challenges are to control inflation, improve the current account balance situation and stabilize the foreign exchange rate.
In particular, he said, tariff rationalization, domestic resource mobilization to meet the fiscal deficit, withdrawal of subsidy or cash assistance or exploring alternatives should be considered now.
Adequate growth in revenue as a percentage of the GDP, ensuring efficiency in government spending and facilitating bilateral and multilateral financing, and attracting domestic and foreign investment should be focused on for the provision of necessary resources to meet social security expenditure and carry out essential development activities, said the finance minister.