Finance Minister AMA Muhith has said the country’s GDP growth will not fall below 6.3% from the 7.2% targeted for the current fiscal year, since the announced rate was ambitious.
“Nothing can cut down the economic expansion of Bangladesh,” the finance minister told journalists yesterday after a meeting with the chairmen and managing directors of state-owned banks, insurance companies and financial institutions.
Muhith also said the growth target was fixed at 7.2% in the current fiscal year in accordance with the good performance of the previous fiscal year and would be revised in the next budget.
Regarding the estimation of the growth rate by development partners, Muhith said the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund had estimated the GDP growth rate conservatively.
The World Bank's annual forecast said Bangladesh would see a GDP growth of around around 5.7% in this fiscal year, due to political unrest, image crisis of the garment sector and slow remittance growth.
IMF estimated the growth to be 6% in the 2013-14 fiscal year.
In Grand Alliance government’s last tenure, the growth rate remained above 6% except for one fiscal year in which it was 5.7 %, he added.
Muhith said the country’s economic position had been well during the first half of the current fiscal year.
The GDP growth rate, exports, and foreign exchange reserve of Bangladesh were all in order, but import and revenue earnings had slowed slightly, he said.
“Our economic situation is still quite well, although we had feared that the economy would fall into a bad situation due to the prolonged blockades and hartals,” the minister said.
