Dhaka Times Report. Budget is coming up. Parliament session is starting today on May 27. The budget will be presented in June. Then the budget will be passed by June 30 after general discussion. But before the start of the budget session, doubts have arisen about the GDP growth.
According to newspaper reports, the government is somewhat embarrassed about the growth rate of GDP for the current financial year. They are looking for a different way, especially since the GDP growth rate is almost identical to the forecast of the development partners. Due to this, on May 21, the secretary of the statistics department in a letter written to the governor of Bangladesh Bank has proposed to form a working committee regarding the release of information, according to related sources. The government had set a target of 7 percent GDP growth for the current fiscal year. But last week the Bureau of Statistics released the GDP growth rate. According to the published data, the GDP growth rate will be 6.32 percent. That is, compared to the target set by the government, the growth is decreasing by 68 percent. The World Bank and ADB recently predicted that the growth rate will be 6.2 percent. This forecast by development partners drew criticism from government policy makers. It was clearly stated by the government that the growth rate in the current financial year will be 7 percent.
According to the related sources, several factors have been identified as the reasons for the non-desired rate of growth. This includes- the current year production of Aush, Aman and wheat is not much higher than last year. Apart from this, due to gas and electricity crisis, the desired growth in the industrial sector has not been achieved. In addition, lack of progress in the education, health and financial sectors, slower export growth and lower public investment have further accelerated the decline in GDP growth targets. Meanwhile, on May 21, Statistics and Information Management Department Secretary Riti Ibrahim gave a letter to the Governor of Bangladesh Bank. According to the letter, Bureau of Statistics, Bangladesh Bank, Ministry of Finance, BIDS, GED and CPD provide various data to describe the economic situation of Bangladesh. Donors also publish information on the World Bank, IMF and ADB. In this case it needs coordination. In the letter, he also mentioned that if a committee is formed with various data providers and expert users, the committee can determine the sources and create indicators to reveal the economic status of Bangladesh on the basis of consensus.
Meanwhile, if there is such a poor situation in determining the growth of GDP, then it may have an impact on the upcoming budget, those related to the economy think. They feel that the issue needs to be addressed now. If not, the coming budget may have a major impact. Moreover, foreign aid is highly dependent on it. Talked to an economist about this. He told this representative that it actually depends on the government and the finance ministry. Disruption in production due to power problems can have an impact on GDP. Maybe this would not have happened if the government paid attention to these issues. But he thinks that the way is still open to the government. The economist also said that we think that the relevant ministries of the government should give importance to export products so that they can be exported properly. Because the country's GDP growth is very much dependent on exports. Therefore, the government should think about all the issues and move forward. Otherwise, it is normal to have an impact on the upcoming budget.
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