Finance Minister A H M Mustafa Kamal has said that he is optimistic about the implementation of the budget of the fiscal year 2020-21, which he proposed in the national parliament early June.
He expressed his optimism in his closing remarks on the budget discussion on Monday.
Noting that some have expressed concerns that the budget may not be implementable, he said that the Asian Development Bank projected a gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 7.5% for the next fiscal year just seven days after the presentation of the proposed budget.
This projection is close to the target growth of 8.2%, showing that the budget can be implemented, he said.
“All the people of our country, who are our lifeblood, will come forward to implement this budget,” said the minister.
In his written closing remark he said: “We have not excluded any individuals or groups from this budget, including those that have lost their jobs due to the Covid-19 pandemic. So the size of the budget has increased.
“If someone could be left out, the size of the budget could have been kept small, and the budget deficit could have been kept small. But the truth is hard, and we must love this hard truth,” the minister added.
Mustafa Kamal said that he firmly believes that the agriculture sector can be a fundamental area for advancement.
“By meeting our own needs, we will be able to supply food to many people in the region,” the minister hoped.
“The prime minister instructed us to emphasize on looking towards our roots. Our roots are our agriculture and our rural economy. Therefore, the agriculture sector has been emphasized more,” he further said.
The minister mentioned that Bangladesh has recently become the third largest rice producer in the world, overtaking Indonesia because of effort, hard-work, and self-confidence of the farmers.
The Economist published a list of 66 emerging economies in a research report on May 2, 2020, in which Bangladesh ranked 9th.
Kamal’s written remarks stated that in the last 50 years, food and grain production of Bangladesh has increased almost four and half times, which is a global record.
