BD to get rid of poverty by 2024- Muhith

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CHITTAGONG, March 15, 2018 (BSS)-Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith today said that Bangladesh will be able to eradicate poverty within 2024 as various poverty alleviation programmes undertaken by the government are being implemented successfully across the country.

The finance minister said over three crore countrymen are living below the poverty line, out of which over one and a half crore live below extreme poverty. These people must be made financially solvent to free the country from the curse of poverty by 2024, he added.

The finance Minister said this while addressing as chief guest at an international conference on “Finance for Sustainable Growth and Development” held on Chittagong University campus.

Paying rich tributes to Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the Finance Minister said Bangladesh has achieved remarkable development and progress for attaining economic emancipation as the country has already been acclaimed as a role model across the world.

He said the population growth rate in the country has declined, improvements in health and education are also instrumental in eliminating poverty throughout the country.

“These progressions have shown promising results and offer the prospect of a long-term prosperity in regards to ending poverty from the country,” he said.

Muhit termed the matter of finance as most important for Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) and said this is a great challenge for Bangladesh to mitigate huge amount of money to achieve all goals of SDG

He, however, said the economic progress has been thwarted sometimes by the illegal rulers, militancy, terrorism and anti-liberation forces.

A total of 61 research papers by 95 researchers from home and abroad were presented in the conference.

Vice Chancellor (VC) of Chittagong University (CU) Prof Dr Iftekhar Uddin Chowdhury inaugurated the conference, held to mark silver jubilee of the Finance Department of CU.

Presided over by Chairman of CU finance department Prof. Dr Mohammad Shamim Uddin Khan, the inaugural session was addressed, among others, by Governor of Bangladesh Bank Fazle Kabir, Finance secretary Mohammad Muslim Chowdhury, Dean, Faculty of Business Administration A F M Aowrangazab and convener of conference organizing committee Prof. Dr Saleh Jahur.