Speakers at a seminar Thursday said the ratio of investment-GDP (gross domestic product) should be increased for Bangladesh to attain a middle income status by 2021.
They said currently the investment-GDP ratio is around 25 per cent and it should be increased to at least 32 per cent to attain that goal.
They were speaking at a seminar organised by the ICAB at its office in the city.
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB) organised the professional development seminar.
ICAB council member Md Shahadat Hossain FCA presented the keynote paper styled 'An analysis on macroeconomic performance of Bangladesh.'
ICAB council member and former president Anwaruddin Chowdhury FCA was the moderator of the seminar.
Moazzem Hossain, Editor of The Financial Express, was present as the chief guest. ICAB president Showkat Hossain FCA delivered the welcome address.
The government's unnecessary development activities should be avoided in the national budget as it leads to widening deficit financing and raising the volume of debts significantly, said the keynote paper.
It said such types of government expenses help raising the volume of interest payments each year, and it grows fast.
The paper noted that unnecessary development projects taken by the government create inflationary pressure in the country, which erodes the purchasing power of the middle- and limited-income bracket people.
However, to keep the inflation within the tolerable range through controlling the demand-driven inflation, the central bank should bring down the annual money and credit growth at a reasonable rate, it said.
The keynote speaker said the programme for social safety may be continued with a larger form to eradicate poverty and ensure food security.
He noted that in the government accounting system, there is no reconciliation between accumulated budget deficit and the amount of government debt which is essential to confirm both the balances.
He said apart from this, there remain lots of anomalies such as difference between balance of government debt as per record of ministry and record of the Bangladesh Bank (BB), balance between Bangladesh Railway and BB and so on.
"Due to non-reconciliation of those differences, frauds and errors may remain undiscovered," the keynote speaker observed.
"To ensure the transparency and accountability, these issues may be resolved with the assistance of professional accountants."
He said the overall budget size may be kept within BDT 2,500 billion i.e. maximum 15 per cent over the previous year's budget.
Speaking as the chief guest, Moazzem Hossain said Bangladesh now needs to raise investment to attain its economic goals.
He said attaining a middle-income country status by 2021 would be a great challenge for Bangladesh, if it fails to attract substantial amount of investment.
He said currently the investment-GDP ratio is around 25 per cent, adding it should be at least 32 per cent to reach that goal.
The FE Editor urged the professional accountants to carry out detailed study on the size of the shadow economy.
He said Bangladesh has some strategic advantages over its competing nations to grow at a faster pace.
He also said the economic growth over the last two decades was significant. The country should have been advanced more, as it has a number of advantages like a large working population accompanied by cheap labour.
The land productivity should be enhanced to raise food production, he added.
Showkat Hossain said inclusive growth implies a direct link between the macro and micro determinants of growth, and captures the importance of structural transformation for economic diversification and competition.
He said the government should take a financial management policy to ensure a sustainable economic growth in the country.
He said capacity building for the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) is required for substantial reduction in poverty.
