A H M Mustafa Kamal Tuesday said he would try to place pro-development, pro-growth and pro-employment national budgets during his tenure as the country's finance minister.
The manufacturing and export sectors will also get priority in the budgets, he said.
"There will be private sector investment-led growth. This will help manufacturing sector thrive," the finance minister told newsmen at his Sher-e-Bangla Nagar office in the city on Tuesday.
The minister said service and agriculture sectors will also be given due importance.
"Private sector will be in the driving seat during the next five years," he said.
The minister said if the cost of doing business can be lowered, "I believe we will get large foreign investment alongside the local ones".
"Many foreign investors met me and talked about big investments," he added.
Mr Kamal said the new budget will reflect the vision and objectives of the Seventh Five Year Plan (SFYP) and beyond.
"A budget is not prepared only for one year but also targets future development activities," he said.
Replying to a query he said Bangladesh's tax-GDP ratio is very low compared to other countries in this region.
"This is a very weak side of our economy. We have to raise internal revenue collection," he said.
The minister said people with tax paying capacity must be brought under the tax net.
The minister said balanced tax rates will be fixed soon for different sectors to generate maximum possible volume of revenue without hurting anyone.
The minister differed with people who say Bangladesh's economy is still in poor condition.
He said the economic condition of the country is not as bad as depicted by some people.
"If the financial condition and banking sector are as bad as they say, how is the economy growing? How development is taking place? How GDP sees such growth?" he posed questions.
But if there is any weak point, we will take steps to remove that, the finance minister said.
He again underscored the need for carrying out necessary reforms in the financial sector.
"Many laws have not been amended for long time. We have to check how the age-old laws are in conformity with the fourth industrial revolution (4IR). We have to amend those in the present context," the minister said.
The fourth industrial revolution (4IR) is going on worldwide. We are also in the transition period and have to embrace it," he said.
syful-islam@outlook.com