FE Report
Finance Minister AMA Muhith turned down Wednesday a proposal placed by the central bank for strengthening its (the bank) autonomy.
The minister said the central bank proposed an action programme to work with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for enhancing its current status of autonomy.
"They thought that they do not have much autonomy as they desired but it is totally a lie," Muhith said at a press briefing held at the ministry's conference room after a meeting with the IMF extended credit facility (ECF) mission.
"I have rejected the proposal. They thought they are bigger than the government," the minister added.
It is a matter of the government and the central bank, Muhith said adding "We can resolve it ourselves".
"We gave all power to the central bank other than dissolving the bank board and sacking the chief executive officers in the case of the state owned banks," Muhith said.
Meanwhile, the finance minister said the ministry is facing demand for huge amount of allocations from different ministries which is the major challenge in formulating the next fiscal year's budget. "Each and every ministry is seeking additional allocations for both the annual development programme (ADP) and revenue budget," he said.
The 'explosive demand' has been created as the budget expenditure and revenue earning have increased to more than double during the last five years.
When asked about how he will manage the 'demand explosion', Muhith said the Prime Minister is realising the situation and asking the ministry to expand the size of the budget.
The major hindrance of the government is that it cannot implement the projects timely.
About the IMF mission Muhith said they raised question about the export subsidy we provide and give support to some other sectors.
The IMF suggested the government to strengthen the supervision on the banks, the minister said.
Muhtih said IMF's ECF is the best of its kind in development assistance as it has no hiccups or obstacles.
The minister sought opinion from IMF mission how to increase the revenue.
Muhtih further said the budget outlay may stand at more or less 250 trillion and the growth projection is 7.3 per cent for next fiscal.
The annual development programme (ADP) allocation will be Tk 800 billion for the next fiscal, he added.
