Finance minister briefs media on new budget

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has started addressing a post-budget media briefing at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in Dhaka.

The briefing that began around 3:15 pm on Friday came a day after the finance minister unveiled a Tk 7.6 trillion budget for the next fiscal year aiming to build a ‘Smart Bangladesh’ amid pressure stemming from global economic challenges.

Six other ministers and government officials are present at the press conference, reports bdnews24.com.

Typically, the finance minister answers questions from journalists in the post-budget briefing. Other ministers and government officials also take part in the briefing.

Kamal's latest budget aims to achieve 7.5 per cent GDP growth and bring down inflation to 6 per cent.

However, economists fear that the national budget could push Bangladesh deeper into an economic crisis instead of easing the instability because it is inconsistent and lacks a strategy to address key issues like inflation and the dollar crunch.