Finance minister forecasts 8.13pc GDP growth in current fiscal

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has said Bangladesh would achieve record 8.13 per cent gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the current fiscal year.

The minister also expressed satisfaction over the different macroeconomic indicators, including export earning, remittance and foreign exchange reserve, in the first six months of the current fiscal (2018-19).

He made the statement in the parliament while placing the report on Monday on budget implementation progress of the first six months (July-December), the trend of income and expenditure, and macroeconomic analysis, reports BSS.

Highlighting the key macroeconomic indicators during the July-December of the current fiscal, the finance minister said the revenue collection under the National Board Revenue (NBR) rose by 9.4 per cent and the overall public expenditure increased by 10.38 per cent during the first half of current fiscal, compared to the same period of previous fiscal 2017-18.

The ADP implementation rate increased by 11.9 per cent during the first six months of current fiscal compared to the same period of previous fiscal, he said.

Kamal said the export earnings rose to US$ 20.49 billion in second quarter of current fiscal, which was US$ 17.92 billion during the same period of the previous year. The export earning rate increased by 14.48 per cent during the second quarter of current fiscal, while it was 7.15 per cent in previous year, he added.

He said the import payments increased by 5.73 per cent to US$ 30.33 billion, while it was 25.79 per cent in the previous fiscal.

The finance minister said the growth for opening import LCs decreased by 27.12 per cent and the private sector credit flow increased by 13.33 per cent.

“The rate of remittance increased by 8.06 per cent during the second quarter of this fiscal while it was 12.41 per cent during the same period of last fiscal,” he added.

Kamal said the foreign exchange reserve stood at US$ 32.02 billion on December 30, 2018 while it was US$ 31.96 billion on September 30, 2018.

The overall inflation decreased to 5.5 per cent in December 2018 from 5.7 per cent in December 2017, he said.