Planning minister opposes move to cut ADP outlay

FE Report | Published: February 20, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00

Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal said Wednesday the country's economy would expand at a rate of more than six per cent in the current fiscal.
He expressed his optimism in contradiction to the projections made by local and foreign experts and organisations.
If the target was 7.2 per cent for the current fiscal, "our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth may not be achieved," he said. "But I think our economy will expand at a rate of more than 6.0 per cent," he told journalists at a briefing at his office in the city.
He said: "Many local economists, civil society people and foreign development partners have projected less than 6.0 per cent growth rates. Their forecasts were never correct in the previous years. Bangladesh in the last five years had always achieved growth at the rate of more than 6.0 per cent.
This year it will also be achieved."
Mr Kamal expressed his reservation about the move to cut nearly Tk 120 billion from the Tk 658 billion outlay of the Annual Development Programme (ADP) for the revised ADP.
"If we trim down the Tk 658.72 billion ADP allocation by nearly Tk 120 billion, the GDP would be down by 0.3 percentage point. So, I do not support slashing the ADP outlay," he said.
The Planning Minister said it was not difficult to keep the expected GDP growth rate at the same level as was in the previous years because of the local political turmoil late last year and the economic downturn in the USA and the EU.
He was hopeful of utilising the whole ADP allocation of Tk 658.72 billion in the remaining months of the current financial year (FY) 2013-14, since the government has taken some measures to implement projects, especially the big ones.
"We would do everything to become a Middle Income Country by 2021," Mr Kamal said. The minister also laid emphasis on quality spending of public funds under the development budget.