Finance Minister A H M Mustafa Kamal hopes that the country’s per capita income will increase to 3,089 US dollars in the next financial year.
A meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Virtual Economic Affairs and Public Procurement was held under the chairmanship of the Finance Minister at 12:30 pm on Sunday (January 30), he told reporters after the meeting.
Asked how the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had recently projected a slowdown in global growth, how it views Bangladesh and on what basis its per capita income would increase, he said, “Last year, our GDP growth rate was 5.43 percent. This year, our GDP growth will be 7.2.”
“At this point, our GDP will be 455 billion USD,” he said. “If we share this 455 billion with the population we have, the per capita income will increase to 2,785 USD. This is our account this year. Hopefully in the next financial year the size of our GDP will touch the milestone of half a trillion.”
He added, “The IMF always analyzes the world economy on the one hand, and publishes its observations or reports on the other. We expect 7.2 percent, in contrast to the IMF says we will be able to achieve 6.6 percent. The IMF has always conservatively projected that to all countries involved. We must, as in the past, believe that we will be able to achieve what we have said.”
The finance minister said three proposals have been approved by the Economic Affairs Committee and 16 by the Cabinet Committee on Procurement. Among the recommendations of the procurement committee were seven from the Ministry of Water Resources, three from the Ministry of Shipping, three from the Ministry of Agriculture, one from the Ministry of Industries, one from the Department of Public Safety and one from the Department of Local Government. In the 16 proposals approved by the committee, the total amount is one thousand 387 crore 33 lakh 17 thousand 64 Tk. Out of the total financing, 449 crore 42 lakh 84 thousand 881 taka will be spent from GoB and 937 crore 90 lakh 32 thousand 183 taka from domestic banks and foreign loans.