Kamal forecasts a record of 8.13pc GDP growth in current fiscal

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SANGSAD BHABAN, April 29, 2019 (BSS) – Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal today said the
country’s GDP growth would be a record of 8.13 percent in the current fiscal and expressed
satisfaction over the different macroeconomic indicators, including export earning, remittance and foreign exchange reserve, in the first six months of the current fiscal (2018-19).

He made the statement while placing the report on budget implementation progress of the first six months (July-December), the trend of income and expenditure, and macroeconomic analysis.

Highlighting the key macroeconomic indicators during the July-December of the current fiscal, the finance minister said the revenue collection under the National Board Revenue (NBR) rose by 9.4 percent and the overall public expenditure increased by 10.38 percent during the first half of current fiscal, compared to the same period of previous fiscal 2017-18.

The ADP implementation rate increased by 11.9 percent during the first six months of current fiscal compared to the same period of previous fiscal, he said.

Kamal said the export earnings rose to US$ 20.49 billion in second quarter of current fiscal, which was US$ 17.92 billion during the same period of the previous year. The export earning rate increased by 14.48 percent during the second quarter of current fiscal, while it was 7.15 percent in previous year, he added.

He said the import payments increased by 5.73 percent to US$ 30.33 billion, while it was 25.79 percent in the previous fiscal.

The finance minister said the growth for opening import LCs decreased by 27.12 percent and the private sector credit flow increased by 13.33 percent.

“The rate of remittance increased by 8.06 percent during the second quarter of this fiscal while it was 12.41 percent during the same period of last fiscal,” he added.

Kamal said the foreign exchange reserve stood at US$ 32.02 billion on December 30, 2018 while it was US$ 31.96 billion on September 30, 2018.

The overall inflation decreased to 5.5 percent in December 2018 from 5.7 percent in December 2017, he said.