Finance Minister AMA Muhith has said the government is likely to take fiscal measures to stop capital flight from the country considering the trend is rising.
“We have seen that investment rate is low while savings rate is high. So it is assumed that a large sum of money was transferred abroad in the last couple of years,” Muhith told journalist after a pre-budget meeting with economists and former bureaucrats at the state guest house Padma.
He also said the government would conduct a new survey on the country’s black money, which would be technically sound compared to the one conducted five years ago.
Former finance minister M Syeduzzaman, former first finance secretary Matiul Islam, Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) Chairman Prof Rehman Sobhan, Executive Director Mustafizur Rahman and Distinguished Fellow Debapriya Bhattacharya attended the meeting.
Regarding the sluggish implementation of Public Private Partnership initiatives, the minister said the economists and former secretaries had suggested him that the World Bank’s land acquisition rule should be executed in Bangladesh for smooth operation of the PPP projects.
Muhith also said the government might introduce urban tax from the next fiscal year to enhance revenue earnings. The economists advised him to allocate more funds for higher education to face global challenges.
