Kamal: New govt needs to explore potential sectors of economy

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal on Tuesday said that the main challenge of the new government would be to maintain the country's economy.

He said: “The government would have to explore the potential sectors of the economy.”

"The government will have to emphasize more on revenue mobilization," he said.

The finance minister said this while exchanging pleasantries with the journalists at his secretariat office after his victory from Comilla in the just concluded 12th national parliamentary election.

"There are many areas to move ahead the economy of Bangladesh side by side there are some areas in the economy which are yet to be unveiled in full scale and some components which are yet to be explored. The government will have to work more on these issues," he added.

Kamal said the main priority of the new Finance Minister would be to mobilize more revenues, adding that the government has bigger plans to augment the revenue collection.

“Noting that the main strength of the country's economy is the foreign currency reserve,” he said adding: “Either the gross or net, the foreign currency reserve is still in a good position.”

"The annual loan of Bangladesh is not equal to the annual inward remittances. For this, there is nothing to be worried about. Besides, income is also coming from goods and services," he added.

Answering to a question, the Finance Minister said many reforms have been brought into the banking sector of Bangladesh and the banking sector is now in a better state. 

He said: "Although there are some isolated incidents, such things will be dealt with in future...Bangladesh is moving ahead and will continue to move."

Mentioning that the trend of Non-Performing Loans (NPLs) is now less, Kamal said: “Bangladesh would become the 20th economy of the world in 2041.”

Responding to another question, he said that the economy would not move ahead if there was no inflation.

"Those who don't delve into the economy, continue to say many things over inflation," he added.

The finance minister mentioned that in some 8 to 10 years of the three successive terms of the Awami League government, the general point-to-point inflation remained below 6% and the situation could not have been better than this.

Replying to another question, he said it is the Prime Minister who would decide who would be the new finance minister of the new government. 

"But whoever becomes the new finance minister, he will continue to work for infusing more dynamism into the economy," he added.

He said although the country's foreign currency reserve at one point reached $48 billion, it has declined in recent times. "But efforts will be there so that it doesn't fall below the $30 billion mark."

The finance minister told another questioner that there was no reason for imposing any type of sanction on Bangladesh since the country did not commit anything unjust. 

"If anyone does such things, then it will be done by force," he added.

Source: BSS