Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has said the World Bank is not consistent in its prediction about Bangladesh’s economy.
“Sometimes, they make a prediction and then frequently shift positions,” he told reporters after a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Public Purchase today.
His remarks come against the backdrop of World Bank’s forecast that Bangladesh’s GDP growth will be 1.6 percent in the fiscal year 2020-21 when the government set it at 7.4 percent in the national budget.
On the economic performance, Mustafa Kamal said Bangladesh has been doing better compared to other countries.
“All the sectors are performing well, except imports. Imports have decreased resulting in a downturn in revenue collections,” he said.
He said the government will review the situation and take some measures to improve revenue collection.
Black money whitening
The finance minister defended the recent report which said about Tk 10,000 crore was whitened by some people in the country during the pandemic.
He said the government has announced a provision in the budget to facilitate whitening of black money.
“This money was black due to our own policy,” he said adding that people were not interested in registering after purchasing flats and land due to high registration fees and high stamp duty.
After the government reduced stamp duty and registration fee people are now registering real-estate properties, he further said.
