Investment will increase in 2/3 years, hopes Razzaque

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DHAKA, March 18, 2019 (BSS) – Agriculture Minister Dr M Abdur Razzaque today expressed his high optimism that the public and private investment in the country would increase further within the next two to three years alongside continued increase in the GDP growth.

“It’s my firm belief that both the public and private investment in the country would increase further within the next two to three years,” said Razzaque while addressing an appraisal meeting on the completed evaluation report on the 6th Five Year Plan as chief guest held at the Krishibid Institution, Bangladesh in the city’s Khamarbari area.

Chaired by Planning Minister MA Mannan, the meeting was also addressed by Principal Coordinator on SDG Affairs at the Prime Minister’s Office Md Abul Kalam Azad and renowned economist Dr Wahiduddin Mahmud as special guests. General Economics Division (GED) Member of the Planning Commission Prof Dr Shamsul Alam made the key-note presentation.

Noting that Bangladesh is doing well in achieving healthy GDP growth, the Agriculture Minister hoped that the country would also be able to attain double digit growth in future.

Highlighting the successes of the government in different socio-economic fields over the last 10 years especially in alleviating poverty, he said the poverty rate has now come down below 22 percent while target is there to further reduce it to 12 percent by 2023.

“We need to keep up political stability, transparency and accountability to maintain the current momentum of the economy,” he added.

The Agriculture Minister also underscored the need for creating more employments, boosting the manufacturing sector as well as the domestic market, improving the quality of education, reaching the urban facilities to the rural level and addressing the inequality.

The Planning Minister said Bangladesh is now considered as a ‘miracle’ and ‘surprise’ before the global arena.

He said they would consider the results of the final evaluation report of the 6th Five Year Plan before finalizing the next or 8th Five Year Plan.

Stressing the need for more budgetary allocation in the transport, health and education sectors alongside other sectors, Mannan put importance on addressing inequality.

Dr Wahiduddin Mahmud said the successes under the 6th Five Year Plan include exceeding target in lowering poverty, increasing life expectancy, giving power connections and lowering the under-five mortality rate.

However, during this plan period, he said the adoption of birth control method almost remained stagnant while target was not achieved in ensuring children’s nutrition.

He said the biggest failure of the 6th Five Year Plan was that the revenue income fell much below the base year in connection with the size of the GDP. He underscored the need for addressing economic disparity, building skilled Human Resources and raising further the GDP growth and per capita income.

Abul Kalam Azad said law and order situation is deeply connected with development and achieving successes is possible under the current and future plans if maintaining law and order remains stable.

He said this evaluation report would guide the government to frame the next and 8th Five Year Plan.

Earlier, in his presentation, Dr Shamsul Alam showed that the average GDP growth during FY11-15 was 6.3 percent while the sustained macroeconomic stability during the sixth plan offered the basis to move the economy on to a higher growth trajectory during the 7th Plan.