Finance Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali has said that good synergy between fiscal and monetary policies and coordination between concerned authorities will be ensured to help the country’s economy perform better in the coming days.
Talking to reporters at his secretariat office on Thursday, he also said that the newly-formed government has also started working already to solve the ongoing forex crisis.
“I have taken my responsibility just a few days ago, so you’ll need to give me some time,” he said.
He was speaking with journalists after separate meetings Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) Country Director Edimon Ginting and World Bank (WB) Country Director Abdoulaye Seck.
The finance minister said, "We've won in many adverse situations in the past and we hope to do it in the future also. We'll have to do the work at first and we're working.
“ADB has shown its confidence on us and they have commented that they are happy to see Sheikh Hasina as the Prime Minister again.”
Replying to a question, he said they expect higher support from the Manila-based lending agency although their approach is a bit different. "They are lending support to us and as per their estimate, our GDP growth is almost 6 per cent which will increase further."
‘Confidence will come back’
In response to questions from reporters after his meeting, Ginting said that Bangladesh’s economy is very strong as even with the current challenges, the growth is 6 per cent for which all should be proud of.
"Overall development continues despite the challenges from overseas. I think you should take note of that... Bangladesh economy has been very strong and will continue to be strong while there is confidence in the private sector. We'll continue to support the government," he added.
He said that following the holding of the last general election, confidence would come back in the economy of Bangladesh. "Most importantly, I think as the election is over, confidence will come back… We will continue to support Bangladesh."
Ginting said that ADB is very proud of the progress that has been achieved over the last 15 years in Bangladesh. "So, we're looking forward to help the government to bring back the high growth that has been achieved in the past. Given the current challenges, we're assured enough that the future over the next five years will be better in Bangladesh."
When asked about the future strategies to overcome the issue of comparatively low level of foreign currency reserve, he said the government is dealing with the problem of foreign currency reserve.
"We feel that the policies that have been implemented by the government are on the right track and they need to fine tune and thus accelerate it to deal with this. The foreign currency reserve needs to be strengthened," added the ADB country director.
In this regard, he said the ADB usually provides budget support every year and it provided $800 million to Bangladesh which went directly to the reserve. At the same time, he said the ADB brings foreign currency to Bangladesh with its operations like other multilateral and bilateral development partners do.
"Expanding ADB's operations together with other development partners will help boost the revenue," he added.
Noting that the private sector and the expatriates bring back the most amount of foreign currency, Ginting said if they bring back more, it would significantly boost the reserve.
"In the long-term, we'll also work with the government to improving the investment climate. Bangladesh is a great story of growth. But, in terms of attracting FDI, Bangladesh is below its weight. Bangladesh can improve the investment regulatory framework and thus can attract more FDI to support the growth," he added.
WB to continue support for economic dev
Earlier, WB Country Director Abdoulaye Seck made a courtesy call on the finance minister at his secretariat office.
After the meeting, Finance Minister Mahmood Ali said that Bangladesh enjoys a warm and broader relationship with the WB and the lending agency is ready to continue it and thus lend more support to the country. “We need support and they are ready to help us.”
Answering to a question, he said that the WB has raised some issues on reforms. “I don’t want to mention those. Let’s work on those.”
Talking to reporters, Seck said, “You know that the support to Bangladesh is extremely strong and large. We talked about bringing the support into new heights.”
He said that the WB along with its sister concerns like the International Finance Corporation (IFC) is ready to continue providing support to Bangladesh.
Alongside lending financing, he said, reforms are also critically important. “We discussed about how economic reforms agenda is very urgent to move in several fronts, whether it is on exchange rate policy, fiscal policy and safety net policy to protect the most vulnerable from shocks. It is also about banking sector reforms, and it’s a huge agenda.”
He said the World Bank Group really stands ready to support Bangladesh in carrying out the reforms.
Responding to a question, Seck said that the WB has invested over more than $52 billion to Bangladesh since independence while currently the lending agency has over $16 billion of commitments in this country across wider areas or sectors like health, education and energy.
The World Bank country director said they are more committed to continue support for attaining inclusive growth by Bangladesh.
Replying to another question, Seck said that in order to becoming a prosperous and developed country by 2041, financing alone would not work for Bangladesh, rather reforms would make it happen.
