Finance Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury speaks at a discussion on the proposed FY27 budget organised by the Bangladesh Economic Association in the auditorium of the Institution of Diploma Engineers Bangladesh in the capital on Thursday. — FE Photo Finance and Planning Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury on Thursday said the government had attempted to reshape the country's budgetary framework to make economic opportunities more inclusive.
"This is a new model of reshaping public finance," he told a discussion on the proposed FY27 national budget organised by the Bangladesh Economic Association (BEA).
"We have spoken about democratising the economy so that all citizens can participate in economic activities. Unfortunately, the economy has evolved into a patronage-based system where a single group has enjoyed most of the benefits.
"They have become very powerful. We are trying to move away from that model also," he said.
He also said the country could have a stronger economy if around 80 per cent of the development budget was implemented.
"If we can complete 80 per cent implementation within the scheduled timeframe, the economy will benefit from higher growth."
The discussion was held in the auditorium of the Institution of Diploma Engineers Bangladesh (IDEB) in the capital's Kakrail.
It was chaired by Dr Mahbub Ullah, convener of the BEA's interim committee, and moderated by the association's Member Secretary Dr Mohammad Helal Uddin.
The finance minister said the government had undertaken several initiatives to improve project implementation and monitoring.
"There will be a dashboard at the Prime Minister's Office and separate dashboards at the ministries. The progress of development projects will be monitored daily through these dashboards," he said.
He added that the monitoring system would help ensure the timely execution of development programmes and improve accountability.
Investment Corporation of Bangladesh (ICB) Chairman Dr Abu Ahmed welcomed the government's target of achieving 6.5 per cent Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth in the next fiscal year.
However, he cautioned that a much lower growth outcome would be disappointing.
"If growth falls to 3.5 per cent, I will be concerned. With high taxes and elevated borrowing costs, doing business has become difficult," he said.
Dr Ahmed also called for a reduction in the policy interest rate, arguing that high borrowing costs were constraining private sector investments.
"Without lower interest rates, the private sector will not gain momentum. The economy could slide into stagnation. Inflation may moderate, but poverty could worsen," he added.
Among those presenting papers at the discussion were Dr Mohammad Abdur Razzak, chairman of Research and Policy Integration for Development (RAPID); Dr Sharmind Neelormi, a professor in the Department of Economics at Jahangirnagar University; Dr Mohammad Yunus and Dr Kazi Iqbal, research directors of Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS); and Dr Atanu Rabbani and Dr Sayema Haque Bidisha, professors of economics at the University of Dhaka.
Other speakers included ATM Nurul Amin, emeritus professor at the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT); Anwar-ul-Alam Chowdhury (Parvez), president of the Bangladesh Chamber of Industries (BCI); Mohammad Nurul Amin, chairman of Bangladesh Krishi Bank; and Imran Matin, executive director of the BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD).
Dr Bidisha said despite the annual official GDP growth of 6.0-7.0 per cent over the past decade, employment grew by 2.2 per cent.
She sounded the alarm that Bangladesh was moving towards jobless growth as employment elasticity had been recorded at 0.34 per cent during the 2016-2022 period.
Dr Bidisha pointed out that the readymade garment export tripled from $12.5 billion to over $38 billion, but the industry maintained a flat employment of less than 4.0 million.
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