Finance Advisor Dr. Salehuddin Ahmed said that a manageable and realistic budget will be announced even if the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) don't provide support.
He said this after a meeting with ADB vice president (South, Central and West Asia) Yingming Yang at the Ministry of Finance at the Secretariat on Sunday.
Salehuddin Ahmed said, “The ADB vice president came to inquire about the state of our economy. We said that the state of the economy is better than before. Our micro-economy has improved a lot. We have made many reforms in the banking sector, the biggest issue being 'trade'. A summit will be held in the private sector in this regard.”
Will the delay in getting the IMF loan have any impact on ADB's budget support? In response to this question, he said that after looking at the issue of budget support (IMF), they wanted to inquire about the micro-economy.
“We are discussing this issue, hopefully it will be resolved,” he said.
Is ADB satisfied with the economic stability of Bangladesh? In response to this question, he further said, “ADB said our economy is doing better than other countries. In this regard we are optimistic and they are happy with our achievements. We are trying for LDC graduation, they also know this. We told them, we are preparing for graduation. ADB is taking care of Bangladesh's development, and they will support our project support as well as the reforms in the banking sector and NBR.
The advisor said, “For internal issues like ours, we are increasing taxes, expanding the scope of taxes for budget support. If the IMF gives some unreasonable conditions for budget support, then we will look into it. Our main focus is to reduce spending in the budget and increase efficiency. Even if we do not get support from the IMF and ADB, we will give the budget.”
Bd-pratidin English/Lutful Hoque
