Finance Minister AHM Kamal has said that from now, government officials will not be allowed to take foreign trip unless deemed essential.
The minister made the comment while responding to a question from the reporters after attending a Cabinet Committee Meeting on Public Procurement on Wednesday.
“We have taken a decision in this regard and it has been approved,” he said mentioning that the move comes to avoid unnecessary expenditure to ease pressure on the current foreign currency reserve on the country.
“Our Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina clearly instructed government officials not to go for any foreign trips if not essential. The number of government foreign trips will be reduced”, he added.
On ongoing projects of the government, he said that the government will postpone lower-priority projects which will not have any impact on the country’s macro-economy and GDP.
Responding to a question on the recent GDP estimation, Kamal said, "We have calculated the new GDP in the same method as we did previously. We haven’t changed the method. I think we're fine. The information we provided is correct.”
“So far, no one, including the IMF and World Bank, had raised any objections regarding our estimation. They agree with us.” the minister added.
