Bangladesh not to revise GDP growth projections: Finance minister

28 Apr '22

2 min read

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Bangladesh will not revise the 7.2 per cent gross domestic product (GDP) growth target for this fiscal despite a huge inflationary pressure on the economy, according to finance minister AHM Mustafa Kamal, who recently said the target will be set at 7.5 per cent in fiscal 2022-23 if the global economic situation—now largely clouded by the Russia-Ukraine war–does not deteriorate further.

"The economy is now on the line to achieve the target. The government would revise its target only if the global situation worsens further," the minister told journalists after chairing the cabinet committee on public purchase virtually.

The country's development partners such as the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have downsized the global growth forecast for this fiscal in their latest reports.

The IMF has projected that Bangladesh's economy will grow by 6.4 per cent in this fiscal and that will be the second highest after India in South Asia. Previously, IMF's growth projection was 6.5 per cent.

Earlier, the World Bank projected Bangladesh's GDP growth at 6.4 per cent in this fiscal while ADB had slightly scaled it up to 6.9 per cent.

Kamal said essential commodity prices have witnessed uptrend across the globe due to supply chain disruptions mainly because of the Russia-Ukraine war, while Bangladesh is also integrated with the global transaction system, according to Bangla media reports.

He also said the government is yet to take any latest decision regarding subsidy management. There are no new measures about inflation management either and the budget deficit would remain within the fiscal target, he added.

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