Finance Minister
Finance Minister sees no risk to Bangladesh’s macroeconomic stability from Ukraine crisis
Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal on Monday told Parliament that the Russia-Ukraine crisis does not right now threaten the country’s macroeconomic stability, even though it generally affects the economy.
"The Russia-Ukraine military crisis is going to hit Bangladesh's economy in the short and medium terms. What will be its impact in the long run depends how long the war and the evolving crisis prolong,” he said replying to a question from Awami League MP Shafiul Islam (Dhaka-10).
Earlier in the afternoon the 17th session of the House opened with Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury in the chair.
READ: NBR works for win-win tax in upcoming budget: Finance Minister
“At this moment, it seems that the crisis will have an impact on the economy of Bangladesh, but it will not put the stability of the country's macro-economy at a great risk,” the finance minister said in his scripted answer.
He said Russia's military operation in Ukraine and the economic sanctions imposed by the western countries on Russia and its ally Belarus will have an adverse impact on the global economy.
Mustafa Kamal said the crisis has destabilised the furnace oil and natural gas markets. “The Russia-Ukraine crisis has affected Bangladesh as well,” he added.
He said the ongoing military crisis and sanctions would inevitably lead to a rise in prices of natural gas, crude oil, fertilisers, wheat, nickel, aluminum and important raw materials for electrical products and related finished goods.
He said this price-hike will definitely push up global inflation. The rise in oil and gas prices could lead to higher inflation in the country as food, consumer goods, industrial raw materials and international transport costs increase, he went on.
This crisis could also complicate payments for Bangladesh's garment exports to Russia, said the finance minister.
Insurance companies’ assets grew 4-fold in 12 years: Finance Minister
Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal on Tuesday said assets held by the country’s insurance companies have quadrupled to Tk 60,000 crore during the period 2009 to 2021.
However,he said the assets held by the industry are still very small in relation to the economy of Bangladesh.
Kamal sees a lot of potential to grow the assets of insurance companies in the country. In this case, there is an opportunity to introduce various types of insurance including residents/houses, car, rail, bus, passenger/ traveler.
“We have to pay attention to these so that all people and resources must be covered by insurance,” he added.
READ: Finance minister unveiled the publication on 50 years of economic development in Bangladesh
The Finance Minister made the remarks while addressing the inauguration ceremony of National Insurance Day (NID)-2022 at Bangabandhu International Conference Center (BICC) in the capital on Tuesday. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina joined the occasion virtually as the chief guest.
Before the inauguration of Insurance Day, Bangabandhu Suraksha Bima was introduced for persons with disabilities. Bangabandhu Suraksha Bima was inaugurated by handing over the policy to Ishan Azan and Rimi. Insurance Development and Regulatory Authority (IDRA) organized the inaugural ceremony on the occasion of Insurance Day.
The National Insurance Day is being celebrated all over the country under the theme 'If we are protected by insurance, we will move forward together'.
Good news for Bangladesh citizens! Govt finally going to announce universal pension plan
Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has said the government will introduce a universal general pension scheme for all citizens of the country, including expatriates. The finance minister said this while briefing reporters on the outcomes of the two consecutive meetings of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs and Cabinet Committee on Public Purchase. Mustafa Kamal said a government authority will be formed soon and the scheme will come into operation within the next six months to one year.
Read: Not aware of any proposal to raise the fertilizer price: Finance Minister Under the pension programme, he said, every citizen of the country, aged 18-50, will get back his monthly deposit along with the same amount of government contribution. “Initially, the scheme will be optional for a citizen, but later it'll be mandatory for everyone.” He said the idea of introducing the pension scheme was mentioned in the last national budget. “That’s why it doesn’t require further approval in the budget.” Describing the pension pattern, the finance minister said the citizens will deposit a certain amount of money after every three months.
Not aware of any proposal to raise the fertilizer price: Finance Minister
Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has said that he is not aware of any proposal placed by the Agriculture Ministry to raise the fertilizer price.
“I am not aware of any such proposal of the agriculture ministry on fertiliser price hike proposal”, he told reporters responding to a question of a reporter during the briefing on the outcomes of two consecutive meetings of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs and the Cabinet Committee on Public Purchase held virtually on Wednesday.
Read: Govt in a fix over subsidy on fertilizer amid price spiral in internal market
The finance minister was asked by a reporter about his response to an indication from the agriculture minister that this year the ministry needs Tk 28,000 crore as subsidy for fertilizer against an allocation of Tk 9,000 crore.
But the additional fund is not available with the agriculture ministry and it is now under pressure from the finance ministry to raise the fertilizer rice.
No area of economy has negative growth: Finance Minister
Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has said that there is no sector of the economy that has negative growth.
He made the claim while briefing reporters on the outcomes of the two consecutive meetings of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs and the Cabinet Committee on Public Purchase.
He presided over the two meetings held virtually on Thursday.
“You can easily find a calculation of the economy. There is no inflation while our exchange rates remain stable. When globally remittance was facing tough times, our (inward) remittance achieved 15 per cent growth”, he said defending his claim.
Also read: Bangladesh’s economy to grow by 6.4% in 2021-22 FY: WB
He also said that the country’s revenue generation obtained 30 percent growth while the import and IT sector witnessed growth too.
Kamal said though remittance is not considered while calculating the GDP growth, it comes to the per capita income’s calculation.
“These are the areas of the economy...If there is any negative growth, it will be reflected into the economy”, he said.
Referring to his budget speech, the finance minister said his prediction in the previous fiscal year 2020-21 proved correct in the economic growth. The predictions were close to the World Bank’s projections.
He said it was possible because of the people's participation and efficient leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Also read: Govt favours circular economy for sustainable growth: Minister
“Our expansionary monetary policy has played a role in this regard. We followed this policy when many countries in the world didn’t dare to take this path”, he said adding, these were reasons for the economic growth.
He said that whatever the way you calculate the economic growth, finally you find the same result. “We have given the clarifications.”
Kamal said somebody may say that it was not a correct calculation, but you can yourself see our achievements.
“Nobody can show this achievement anywhere”, he said.
Bangladesh made unprecedented development in last 10 years: Finance Minister
Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal said Bangladesh made unprecedented development in the last 10 years, especially in the fields of agriculture, industry, trade and services.
He thanked the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) for its support to develop the rural economy including agriculture, rural infrastructure, climate change issue and women's empowerment.
Kamal’s remarks came a meeting of the finance ministry with the delegation of IFAD, an institution of the UN, on Wednesday at his Secretariat office.
The newly appointed country director of IFAD Arnoud Hameleers led its delegation and economic relation division (ERD) secretary Fatima Yasmin led Bangladesh side. Both IFAD and finance ministry officials were present in the meeting.
READ: Now people can afford to pay, claims Finance Minister
The finance minister requested IFAD to finance Bangladesh on easy terms for food processing like other development partners to address future climate change and SDG challenges.
The minister expressed hope that the 8th five year plan, SDG and Covid-19 would play a positive role of IFAD funding in Bangladesh to meet the challenges.
Finance minister said that when there were 1 billion people in the world, countless people were still starving, but today the population of the world is over 7 billion. Even then, it goes without saying that people do not go hungry.
He highly appreciated the contribution of various organizations and farmers of Bangladesh involved in agricultural development including international organizations like IFAD and FAO.
Per capita income to reach $3089 in next fiscal: Finance Minister
Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has expressed the hope that the country's per capita income will go up to $3,089 dollars in the next financial year.
He was briefing reporters after the virtually held two consecutive meetings of Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs and Cabinet Committee on Public Purchase on Sunday.
Read: Per capita income to exceed $ 3,000 this year: LGRD minister
He also defended the government’s recent decision to allow some of the local enterprises to invest abroad and set up business ventures there.
“If we don’t allow investment abroad, money will go to different countries through hundi”, he said adding that some export-oriented firms were given permission to invest abroad under certain conditions and compliances.
He said those firms which have been exporting goods will get the opportunity to invest abroad by 20 per cent of their retention money or on the basis of their net assets.
Responding to a question on the projection of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) about slowing down the global economy, he said Bangladesh’s growth will continue.
"Last year, our GDP growth rate was 5.43 per cent and this year, our GDP growth will be 7.2,” he said defending his projection of $3,089 per capita income.
He said the size of the country's GDP will set a new milestone in the next fiscal year by touching the benchmark of half a trillion dollars. “Currently, our GDP is $455 billion and if it is divided into the total population, per capita income will stand at $2,785”.
Read: Rebased GDP increases per capita income by almost 16%
He noted that the government expects the GDP growth will be 7.2 per cent while the IMF has made a prediction to be 6.6 per cent.
Meanwhile, the Economic Affairs Committee approved three proposals while 18 proposals were approved by the Cabinet Committee on Public Purchase.
Now people can afford to pay, claims Finance Minister
Dhaka, Dec 29 (UNB) - Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has claimed that the mass people of the country are now financially doing well overcoming the Covid-19 fallouts as the government has taken various effective initiatives.
“My belief is that people are now in a better financial condition, and they can afford to pay,” he said on Wednesday, disagreeing with the idea that people have lost affordability to pay any increased tariff for electricity.
The finance minister’s comments came in response to a question how could the people afford if electricity tariff has further been raised as his ministry has moved a proposal in this regard.
He was briefing reporters about the outcomes of the two consecutive meetings of the Cabinet Committee on Public Purchase (CCPP) and Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA).
Remittance to exceed $25 billion by end of current fiscal : Finance Minister
Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has said that he is hopeful that the country’s remittance will exceed $25 billion by the end of the current fiscal , up from current $21 billion.
“During the two occasions of Eid, we hope our expatriates send huge remittances that will help exceed the last fiscal year’s benchmark”, he told reporters while briefing the outcomes of the consecutive meetings of the two cabinet Committees—Cabinet Committee on Public Purchase and Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on Monday.
The finance minister noted that in the last fiscal 2020-21, the country’s remittance reached nearly $25 billion.
Also read: Bangladesh Bank allows receiving remittances through OPGSPs
He admitted that all the economic indicators of the country remained positive except the remittance.
“We’re lagging behind our expectations in remittance earnings. But two Eid festivals will play a big role in boosting the remittance”, he added.
Kamal also claimed that he is still hopeful that the country will achieve the 7.2 percent economic growth as all the sectors are performing well although the International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently made a projection at 6.6 percent in this regard.
"The IMF and the World Bank always make conservative projections, but our projection finally sustained”, he said.
The minister said the export has made 24.3 percent growth and by the end of the current fiscal the total export earnings will reach $47-$48 billion.
He said the country holds huge potentials to grow economically, but those potentials were not utilized in a right manner.
Also read: ‘No idea who’re siphoning off money; give me a list’: Finance Minister
“In last 12 years, under the leadership of Sheikh Hasina, we have been able to exploit such potential. That’s why we have succeded”.
Responding to a question, he said the government prefers the local companies in the contract of supply of electronic devices in the public purchase.
“We want to promote the Made in Bangladesh products in the public procurement”, he said.
Pandora Papers' names should not be discussed as the issue pending with court: Finance Minister
Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal said on Wednesday that it will not be wise for him to discuss Bangladeshi businessmen named by the Pandora Papers.
He said the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) submitted names of 42 persons to the High Court. Now the matters remain pending with the court.
"So, I should not discuss the matter while the issue is pending with the court", he told reporters while responding to a question after a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Public Purchase (CCPA) on Wednesday.
Read: I’ve no mechanism to gather money-laundering info: Finance Minister
Eight Bangladeshis and five addresses with links to Bangladesh were included in the latest document released under the Pandora Papers late Monday night; all of them owned business establishments in the British Virgin Islands.
The Pandora Papers are 11.9 million leaked documents with 2.9 terabytes of data that the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) published beginning on 3 October 2021.
The leak exposed the secret offshore accounts of 35 world leaders, including current and former presidents, prime ministers, and heads of state as well as more than 100 billionaires, celebrities, and business leaders.
Mohammad Bhai, Sakina Miraly, Nihad Kabir, Anita Rani Bhowmik, Islam Manzurul, Walter Pollak, Daniel Ernesto Iubatti and Sayedul Huda Chowdhury are named on the latest list.
The finance minister said some 43 names of individuals and firms were submitted to the court.
"Gradually more names will be submitted", he added.
Meanwhile, the ICIJ said that the names being mentioned on the list do not necessarily mean they were involved in any illegal activities.
The leaks show that the names of the entities are largely foreign sounding but the addresses used are located in Bangladesh.
The "Pandora Papers" investigation -- involving some 600 journalists from media including The Washington Post, the BBC and The Guardian -- is based on the leak of documents from 14 financial services companies around the world.
Read: ‘No idea who’re siphoning off money; give me a list’: Finance Minister
It began in October earlier this year, where current and former leaders were featured in the latest vast trove of documents analyzed by the ICIJ -- facing allegations ranging from corruption to money laundering and global tax avoidance.
The new list contains some 740,000 individuals and organizations, from countries (apart from Bangladesh) such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, and Argentina.
Among the eight Bangladeshis, Nihad Kabir, president of the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, has set up a company in the British Virgin Islands named Capital Fair Holding Limited. The company was registered on August 8, 2008.
Manzurul also owns a company in the British Virgin Islands named Oriental Agricultural Chemical Company.
He used an address in Gulshan, Bangladesh, as well as a UK identity.
Among others, Saidul Huda, Sakina and Mohammad Bhai have cited Gulshan addresses while Anita Rani gave an address of Chawkbazar.
Saidul owns a company named Beben International, Anita owns Enterprise Holdings Limited, Sakina owns Moon Wrecker Services Corporation, Mohammad Bhai owns 1936 Holdings Limited, Prahmad owns Slint Link Enterprise Limited and Daniel owns Cudel Limited.
Earlier, in a document published by the Pandora papers in the first phase, the name of a Bangladeshi businessman Abdul Awal Mintoo was mentioned along with a businessman from Nepal.
The ICIJ did not disclose the data of Pandora Papers publicly but exchanged it with the stakeholders.
In most countries, the ICIJ stresses, it is not illegal to have assets offshore or to use shell companies to do business across national borders.
But such revelations are no less of an embarrassment for leaders who may have campaigned publicly against tax avoidance and corruption, or advocated austerity measures at home.