Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal, who is going to take charge of the Finance Ministry tomorrow, today expressed his firm resolve to overcome the challenges successfully that the economy will be facing in the coming years.
“Every challenge comes up with an opportunity. We will be able to achieve our goal facing those challenges……I believe we will be able to face those challenges and I won’t fail,” he said in a crowded ‘Meet the Press’ held at the NEC Conference Room in the city’s Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Area this evening.
State Minister for Finance and Planning MA Mannan, who is also going to take oath as the Planning Minister tomorrow, also spoke.
AHM Mustafa Kamal, commonly known as Lotus Kamal, said that the Ministry of Finance would begin its journey from tomorrow with a new dimension and there would be new things.
Kamal said, after assuming of his new office, the Ministry of Finance, his first priority would be to sort out what are the things that are needed to be done to maintain the country’s economy on a solid and strong foundation. “I will work on keeping target-based and number-based goals,” he added. The outgoing Planning Minister also sought doa and blessings from the countrymen so that he could fulfill the aspirations of the countrymen.
He said that both the Ministry of Finance and Planning are well integrated and he along with MA Mannan would move forward keeping hands with hands and shoulder to shoulder to yield maximum development outcomes.
Touching upon the positive trend of major macroeconomic indicators, Kamal said that the export growth in the first half of the current fiscal notched nearly 15 percent while the inward remittance inflow reached $16 billion side by side the inflation is also in a comfortable zone.
About the prospects of growth in the current fiscal year (FY19), he said that the GDP growth rate in the current fiscal year would reach 8.25 to 8.30 percent.
MA Mannan said that after taking charge of the Ministry of Planning as its full Minister, he would try his level best to discharge his duties under the directives of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Meanwhile revealing the data of the implementation of Annual Development Programme (ADP) for the first half (July-December), Kamal revealed that the implementation rate in this July-December period was 27.42 percent with an overall expenditure of Taka 49,595 crore.
The ADP implementation rate during the July-December period of the last fiscal year notched 27.02 percent with an overall expenditure of Taka 44,331 crore.
(BSS)
