‘IMF loan, Aman to cause inflation to go down from Oct’

The country’s overall inflation rate will decrease in October, though it keeps a rising trend in the current month, Planning Minister MA Mannan said on Monday.

“We will get a loan from International Monetary Fund (IMF) for sure and the harvest of Aman paddy will be completed by this time. Due to these reasons, inflation will start decreasing from October,” he said while addressing a dialogue organised by the Development Journalist Forum of Bangladesh (DJFB) at the NEC Conference Room at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar in the capital.

“It is our right as a member state to get loans from the IMF. Initially, they expressed interest after we had submitted a loan request. We will get a loan package of $4.5 billion from the IMF. We have stored 20 lakh metric tonnes of food grains. With the stock, Aman paddy will be added. So, the inflation will decrease from next month,” Mannan hoped.

However, inflation will increase slightly in August and September. August data is available. But the head of government is out of the country now. After showing it to her, I will reveal the inflation rate ,” he added.

About Gross Domestic Product (GDP) rate, the planning minister said the country’s GDP is expected to grow by 7 per cent in the  current fiscal year.

“We have the focus to maintain the rate, so that it does not go below 7 per cent,” he added.

Observing that the government is trying to control corruption by reducing the poverty rate, he said existing laws should be implemented to reduce corruption in procurement.

Suggesting a single project director for each project, Mannan said the project director should stay in the project site to supervise the implementation.