Finance Minister AMA Muhith yesterday said Bangladesh would become a poverty free country by 2018 as “all people of the country are presently working and contributing to the country’s economy.”
The country’s poverty rate would come down to 12% by 2018, Muhith said while taking part in the thanks-giving motion on the president’s speech in parliament.
He said the standard poverty rate for a country to be dubbed poverty-free was 10-14%. Malaysia has exceptionally 7% of poverty rate.
Muhith said 22.5% people lived under poverty line and 9% under extreme poverty line in 2013. “Now the situation has improved a lot...Only one strategy – increasing internal demand – has contributed to the reduction of the poverty rate substantively.”
The government is also removing any discrimination among different classes of people, he claimed, underscoring the need for special measures for the extreme poor.
Muhith said the BNP-led alliance’s hartal and blockade programmes were the main obstacles to the uplifting of the GDP growth to 7%.
“Good sense in BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia and containing violence and anarchy with iron hands are the two things that can boost the country’s GDP to 7% immediately,” he said.
Bangladesh saw a 6.1% GDP growth last year and 6% in 2013, according to World Bank data.
Muhith criticised Khaleda for hampering economic activities by enforcing blockade and hartal and said her good sense could help the economic growth.
Muhith also urged Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to contain the ongoing violence and anarchy with iron hands for the sake of advancing the country economically.
