CA hopes food inflation will come down to 6pc by Dec

Chief Adviser Professor Dr Muhammad Yunus hoped that inflation would come down to 6 percent by December, saying controlling inflation was the biggest challenge for his interim government.

“Due to the fragile economy and floods, food inflation was about 14 percent. Now it has come down to half. We hope that it will come down to 6 percent by December,” he said in his televised address to the nation this evening, marking the July Mass Uprising Day.

Prof Yunus said immediately after the interim government took office, the terrible flood situation that occurred in the southern and northern parts of the country caused massive damage to crop production.

“As a result, there was a fear of an increase in the prices of daily necessities. However, this was avoided due to appropriate steps taken by the concerned institutions and authorities, monitoring and reducing the dominance of middlemen. Especially, the market situation has been stable since the holy month of Ramadan this year,” he said.

This June, the country’s overall inflation decreased to 8.48 percent, which is the lowest in the last 35 months, he said, adding that overall inflation witnessed a gradual fall for the last four months in a row.

As a result of the immense trust of the expatriate Bangladeshis in the current interim government, stability has also returned to the forex market, said Prof Yunus.

Last fiscal year, a record $3033 crore remittance came into the country through banking channels while export earnings grew by about 9 percent.

As a result, the taka has gained strength, he said, adding after many years, the value of the taka is increasing against the dollar.

In the last 11 months, $4 billion has been paid to foreign lenders as interest and principal, which is the highest ever, he said, adding even after paying off previous outstanding liabilities, foreign exchange reserves are increasing.

He hoped that this trend would continue in the future.

As a result of various initiatives taken to increase foreign investment, the country got foreign investment worth Taka 10,500 crore in the first three months of this year, which is more than double compared to the same period last year.

And it is calculated from October last year, foreign direct investment was Taka 16,500 in the six months, which is double compared to the last six months of the previous government’s tenure, he added.

He said employment generation is one of the major goals of the interim government.

The chief adviser said recently, Hong Kong-based industrial group Handa has promised to invest $250 million in Bangladesh’s textile and ready-made garment sector, which is the single highest investment by a Chinese company in this sector. Their investment will create employment for 25,000 people, he added.

“We firmly believe that this investment by Handa will encourage more Chinese companies to invest in this country. Through this, it will open the way for employment for our youths,” he said.

The chief adviser said his interim government has taken the initiative to bring back the huge amount of money laundered from the country in the last 16 years.

The government has appointed renowned foreign law firms for this long legal process for recovering the money, he said, adding as a result of appropriate legal steps, some of the massive financial assets that the fascists and miscreants took to different countries of the world have already been seized.

He hoped that if this process is continued properly, some more positive results will be achieved in a short time.

“To strengthen the country’s fragile economy, we need to bring about a fundamental change in our thinking. I have always said that the rivers and vast seas of this country are our valuable resources. We want to use these resources and build a ‘water-based economy’ in parallel,” he said.