Budget of Tk 7.61 lakh crore placed, govt aims at 7.5pc GDP growth

“On the whole, we expect to return to higher growth trajectory and achieve a 7.5 per cent GDP growth in the coming fiscal year, by way of investing in the  productive sectors and stimulating productivity and domestic demand,” he said.

To achieve the growth target, he said the government would gradually come out of the contractionary policy and invest in ongoing and new growth-inducing projects including the mega-projects.For this purpose, he said the budget of the next fiscal year has set a higher target of raising the public investment to 6.3 percent of the GDP.

“At the same time, investment will continue to be facilitated in economic zones with an investment-friendly environment consisting of various facilities such as undisputed land, improved infrastructure, uninterrupted utilities, financial incentives and ease of doing business, etc,” he added.

Kamal said development of logistics sector and reform of financial management will reduce time, cost and complexity in investment/business processing.

As a result, private investment, which has decreased slightly in the current fiscal year, is expected to increase to 27.4 percent of the GDP in the next fiscal year.

The Finance Minister said in April 2023, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) projected that the recovery process in the global context, especially in the countries important for Bangladesh’s trade and remittances, has begun and will continue.

At the same time, he said the IMF’s projection also revealed that global inflation will moderate as the food, fertilizer and fuel prices in the international market are returning to normal.”Favorable changes in the global economy are making us hopeful. Simultaneously, the economic activities within the country have gathered momentum following the overall improvement of the Covid situation. Also, good yields are expected in the agriculture sector towards the end of the fiscal year,” he added.

Mustafa Kamal said total revenue in the proposed budget is estimated at Tk 5 lakh crore for the next fiscal. Out of this, he proposed to collect Tk 4.30 lakh crore through the National Board of Revenue and the rest Tk 70,000 crore from other sources.

According to the Finance Minister, the overall deficit in the proposed budget will stand at Tk 2 lakh 61 thousand 785 crore, which is 5.2 per cent of GDP. He reminded that the deficit rate was 5.5 per cent in the previous budget. Out of the total deficit, Tk 1 lakh 55 thousand 395 crore are proposed to be financed from domestic sources and Tk 1 lakh 2 thousand 490 crore from external sources.