Less-than-expected levels of revenue earnings, slow export growth and sluggish investment trend will be high on the agenda as a high-powered committee sits today (Wednesday) to review the country's macroeconomic situation, officials said.
The Coordination Council - an official review committee on fiscal, monetary and exchange rate - is expected to review the first quarter's performance of budget for the current fiscal year and discuss the indicators of Medium Term Macroeconomic Framework (MTMF) for next three fiscal years, they added.
Finance Minister AMA Muhith will preside over the committee's first meeting of the current fiscal year (FY) to be held at the Ministry of Finance (MoF).
Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed, Bangladesh Bank (BB) Governor Atiur Rahman and senior officials of the government agencies concerned will attend the meeting.
Senior secretaries of the Ministry of Commerce (MoC), Economic Relations Division (ERD) and Planning Commission, Chairman of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) and Secretary of Bank and Financial Institution Division (BFID) will also be present.
In the context of the world and national economy, the officials said, the performance of the country's present and future economic scenario will come up in the meeting for discussion.
Besides, the indicators of MTMF in FY 2015-16, FY 2016-17 and FY 2017-18 are expected to remain unchanged which were projected in the last meeting of the Coordination Council, the officials said.
Preferring anonymity, a high official of the MoF said export and revenue earnings and implementation of Annual Development Programme (ADP) during the July-September period of the current FY will be highlighted in the meeting.
The Coordination Council has conveyed the meeting at a time when the performance of the country's some economic indicators, including tax revenue collection, export receipts and investment trend is not satisfactory, sources said.
According to official figures, government's aggregate tax-revenue collection fell short of target by nearly Tk 57.99 billion in the first quarter of the current fiscal year.
The NBR achieved 9.60 per cent growth in revenue collection as compared to that of the corresponding period, according to the National Board of Revenue (NBR).
"The prevailing poor growth of tax-revenue collection has put the government's current expenditures under pressure," a finance ministry official told the FE.
He said the government requires additional funds to implement the new pay scale for public servants.
The country's export receipts also fell short of target by 3.73 per cent during the July-October period in the current fiscal year despite having a nearly 5.0 per cent growth over the period of last fiscal, the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) data showed.
On the other hand, overall investment proposals - both local and foreign registered with the Board of Investment (BoI) in the first quarter of the current fiscal- fell by 56 per cent or Tk 185.17 billion over the April-June period of last fiscal.
Investment proposals amounting to Tk 145.62 billion for 372 industrial units were registered with the BoI during the July-September period of this fiscal year compared to nearly Tk 330.80 billion for 403 industrial units in the previous three months, the BoI figures have revealed.
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